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

6 months to
17 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 150 131 157
Rank change year-on-year -19 +26 -23
Contract jobs citing DNS 1,024 697 598
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.91% 2.11% 1.54%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.35% 17.81% 12.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 626 450 416
10th Percentile £297 £250 £241
25th Percentile £408 £388 £372
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £488
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +7.69% -2.50%
75th Percentile £586 £600 £588
90th Percentile £643 £650 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 51 32 15
10th Percentile £26.00 £29.00 £20.00
25th Percentile £31.25 £37.06 £23.45
Median hourly rate £63.48 £61.25 £24.20
Median % change year-on-year +3.64% +153.10% -39.50%
75th Percentile £74.26 £82.33 £49.38
90th Percentile £98.82 £89.17 £63.51
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 5,031 3,913 4,729
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.40% 11.82% 12.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,979 2,378 2,892
10th Percentile £250 £242 £222
25th Percentile £400 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £486 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.83% -2.75% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £489 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +2.89% -5.00% +9.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 363 203 315
10th Percentile £15.18 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £25.15 £20.00
Median hourly rate £26.14 £46.25 £49.00
Median % change year-on-year -43.48% -5.61% -10.91%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £81.95 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.14 £45.00 £54.88
% change year-on-year -41.91% -18.00% -2.86%

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 17 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 17 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 17 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 -7 933 £500 -4.76% 362
UK excluding London -7 633 £500 -4.76% 292
London -33 323 £500 - 121
Work from Home -14 241 £510 -2.86% 129
North of England +25 228 £470 -6.00% 58
South East +7 190 £538 -2.27% 98
North West +37 150 £474 +1.94% 37
Midlands -12 120 £450 -5.26% 44
West Midlands -23 98 £431 -9.21% 33
South West +4 87 £513 -12.77% 37
Yorkshire -7 65 £488 -11.36% 14
Scotland +10 32 £550 +20.22% 14
East of England -53 32 £450 -18.18% 37
East Midlands -5 20 £413 -25.00% 11
North East -39 13 £319 -6.25% 8
Wales -13 7 £500 +31.84% 6

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 (10.25%) Microsoft Exchange
2 92 (8.98%) SharePoint
3 23 (2.25%) Confluence
4 19 (1.86%) Apache
5 16 (1.56%) IIS
6 12 (1.17%) nginx
7 9 (0.88%) Tomcat
8 6 (0.59%) Skype for Business
9 5 (0.49%) WebSphere
10 4 (0.39%) Exchange Server 2010
11 3 (0.29%) Exchange Server 2013
12 2 (0.20%) IBM HTTP Server
12 2 (0.20%) OpenStack
12 2 (0.20%) Oracle HTTP Server
12 2 (0.20%) WebSphere Application Server
12 2 (0.20%) WebSphere Portal
13 1 (0.098%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 24 (2.34%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.17%) MS Visio
3 10 (0.98%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.20%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.20%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.20%) Houdini
5 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.20%) NUKE
Business Applications
1 11 (1.07%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 417 (40.72%) Azure
2 213 (20.80%) AWS
3 182 (17.77%) Entra ID
4 181 (17.68%) Microsoft 365
5 111 (10.84%) GCP
6 75 (7.32%) GitHub
7 59 (5.76%) IaaS
8 55 (5.37%) OneDrive
9 45 (4.39%) Azure DevOps
10 41 (4.00%) PaaS
11 40 (3.91%) SaaS
12 39 (3.81%) Azure Monitor
13 36 (3.52%) GitHub Actions
14 31 (3.03%) OpenShift
15 28 (2.73%) AWS CloudFormation
16 27 (2.64%) Serverless
17 26 (2.54%) Google Kubernetes Engine
18 25 (2.44%) Azure ExpressRoute
19 23 (2.25%) Akamai
20 22 (2.15%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 474 (46.29%) DHCP
2 363 (35.45%) Firewall
3 289 (28.22%) TCP/IP
4 285 (27.83%) VPN
5 130 (12.70%) WAN
6 127 (12.40%) VLAN
7 126 (12.30%) Network Security
8 107 (10.45%) LAN
9 103 (10.06%) SSL
10 93 (9.08%) BGP
11 74 (7.23%) HTTP
12 73 (7.13%) BIG-IP
13 72 (7.03%) Wireless
14 70 (6.84%) Wi-Fi
15 63 (6.15%) SAN
16 55 (5.37%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
17 49 (4.79%) OSPF
18 48 (4.69%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
19 47 (4.59%) DMZ
20 38 (3.71%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 54 (5.27%) SQL Server
2 21 (2.05%) PostgreSQL
3 12 (1.17%) Azure SQL Database
4 10 (0.98%) Elasticsearch
4 10 (0.98%) MongoDB
4 10 (0.98%) MySQL
4 10 (0.98%) Power BI
5 9 (0.88%) Amazon RDS
6 6 (0.59%) 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 2 (0.20%) KDB
11 1 (0.098%) BigQuery
11 1 (0.098%) Cloud Spanner
11 1 (0.098%) DynamoDB
11 1 (0.098%) Flink
Development Applications
1 72 (7.03%) JIRA
2 55 (5.37%) Jenkins
3 44 (4.30%) Git
4 32 (3.13%) GitLab
5 17 (1.66%) Fiddler
6 12 (1.17%) Bitbucket
7 10 (0.98%) 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 (0.20%) Artifactory
11 2 (0.20%) Introscope
11 2 (0.20%) Selenium
11 2 (0.20%) Spinnaker
11 2 (0.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
12 1 (0.098%) Maven
12 1 (0.098%) SonarQube
12 1 (0.098%) Visual Studio
General
1 264 (25.78%) Social Skills
2 122 (11.91%) Analytical Skills
3 96 (9.38%) Finance
4 84 (8.20%) Public Sector
5 69 (6.74%) Banking
6 58 (5.66%) Documentation Skills
7 33 (3.22%) Investment Banking
8 32 (3.13%) Telecoms
9 24 (2.34%) Legal
10 13 (1.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 13 (1.27%) Military
11 12 (1.17%) Organisational Skills
12 11 (1.07%) Local Government
12 11 (1.07%) Police
13 9 (0.88%) Manufacturing
14 8 (0.78%) Pharmaceutical
15 7 (0.68%) Aerospace
16 6 (0.59%) Front Office
16 6 (0.59%) Law
16 6 (0.59%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 180 (17.58%) Network Engineer
2 179 (17.48%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 117 (11.43%) Senior
4 100 (9.77%) Support Engineer
5 90 (8.79%) Architect
6 75 (7.32%) Cloud Engineer
7 57 (5.57%) Security Engineer
8 56 (5.47%) Analyst
9 50 (4.88%) IT Engineer
9 50 (4.88%) IT Support
10 43 (4.20%) Azure Engineer
11 40 (3.91%) DevOps Engineer
11 40 (3.91%) Platform Engineer
12 39 (3.81%) Cisco Engineer
12 39 (3.81%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 39 (3.81%) Web Engineer
13 38 (3.71%) Administrator
13 38 (3.71%) Network Security Engineer
14 37 (3.61%) Cisco Network Engineer
15 34 (3.32%) IT Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (4.59%) SAML
2 40 (3.91%) 802.1X
3 31 (3.03%) OAuth
4 28 (2.73%) OpenID
5 27 (2.64%) LDAP
6 26 (2.54%) ARM Templates
7 19 (1.86%) JSON
8 17 (1.66%) REST
9 16 (1.56%) OpenTelemetry
10 15 (1.46%) Kafka
11 13 (1.27%) YAML
12 10 (0.98%) OAuth2
13 7 (0.68%) CSS
13 7 (0.68%) Middleware
13 7 (0.68%) React
14 6 (0.59%) Elastic Stack
14 6 (0.59%) Software Packaging
15 5 (0.49%) .NET
16 4 (0.39%) gRPC
16 4 (0.39%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 126 (12.30%) Data Centre
2 102 (9.96%) PKI
3 69 (6.74%) Onboarding
4 65 (6.35%) Hybrid Cloud
5 54 (5.27%) Management Information System
6 51 (4.98%) Cloud Native
7 40 (3.91%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 34 (3.32%) Clustering
9 27 (2.64%) Public Cloud
10 26 (2.54%) Replication
10 26 (2.54%) Self-Motivation
11 19 (1.86%) Enterprise Cloud
12 17 (1.66%) Enterprise Software
12 17 (1.66%) Linux Command Line
13 15 (1.46%) Distributed Systems
13 15 (1.46%) Driving Licence
13 15 (1.46%) Security Posture
14 14 (1.37%) Cyber Threat
15 10 (0.98%) CMDB
15 10 (0.98%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 473 (46.19%) Windows
2 258 (25.20%) Windows Server
3 213 (20.80%) Linux
4 62 (6.05%) Windows 10
5 46 (4.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 39 (3.81%) Windows Server 2019
7 33 (3.22%) Mac OS
8 28 (2.73%) Unix
9 25 (2.44%) Windows Server 2012
10 20 (1.95%) Apple iOS
10 20 (1.95%) Ubuntu
11 18 (1.76%) Android
11 18 (1.76%) VMS
12 15 (1.46%) CentOS
12 15 (1.46%) Windows Server 2016
13 13 (1.27%) Windows 7
14 8 (0.78%) Windows Server 2008
15 7 (0.68%) Rocky
16 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2003
17 3 (0.29%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 243 (23.73%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 228 (22.27%) Problem-Solving
3 186 (18.16%) ITIL
4 177 (17.29%) Infrastructure as Code
5 174 (16.99%) Load Balancing
6 168 (16.41%) Migration
7 161 (15.72%) DevOps
8 154 (15.04%) CI/CD
9 131 (12.79%) High Availability
10 129 (12.60%) ITSM
11 104 (10.16%) Continuous Improvement
12 96 (9.38%) Observability
13 93 (9.08%) Cybersecurity
14 90 (8.79%) Agile
15 89 (8.69%) Project Delivery
16 87 (8.50%) Disaster Recovery
17 82 (8.01%) Technical Leadership
18 81 (7.91%) Runbook
19 79 (7.71%) Platform Engineering
20 76 (7.42%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 253 (24.71%) PowerShell
2 214 (20.90%) Python
3 156 (15.23%) Bash
4 69 (6.74%) SQL
5 44 (4.30%) Bicep
6 23 (2.25%) JavaScript
7 15 (1.46%) Shell Script
8 12 (1.17%) Go
9 10 (0.98%) ActionScript
9 10 (0.98%) Java
9 10 (0.98%) Perl
10 9 (0.88%) VBScript
11 7 (0.68%) VBA
12 6 (0.59%) Groovy
12 6 (0.59%) VB
13 5 (0.49%) Ruby
13 5 (0.49%) TypeScript
14 3 (0.29%) C
14 3 (0.29%) Lisp
15 2 (0.20%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 374 (36.52%) Security Cleared
2 217 (21.19%) SC Cleared
3 152 (14.84%) DV Cleared
4 100 (9.77%) Cisco Certification
5 83 (8.11%) Degree
6 73 (7.13%) CCNP
7 54 (5.27%) CCNA
8 51 (4.98%) Microsoft Certification
9 49 (4.79%) Azure Certification
10 32 (3.13%) Network+ Certification
11 23 (2.25%) Computer Science Degree
12 19 (1.86%) AWS Certification
13 17 (1.66%) BPSS Clearance
13 17 (1.66%) CCIE
14 15 (1.46%) Server+ Certification
14 15 (1.46%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 13 (1.27%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 12 (1.17%) MCSE
16 12 (1.17%) VCAP
17 11 (1.07%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (4.00%) SLA
2 26 (2.54%) NIST
3 17 (1.66%) NCSC
4 16 (1.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 13 (1.27%) 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 (0.20%) Data Quality
9 2 (0.20%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.20%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.20%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.098%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.098%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 438 (42.77%) Active Directory
2 268 (26.17%) VMware Infrastructure
3 127 (12.40%) Hyper-V
4 70 (6.84%) VMware ESXi
5 69 (6.74%) vSphere
6 66 (6.45%) VMware NSX
7 55 (5.37%) Docker
8 43 (4.20%) Virtual Machines
9 39 (3.81%) Virtual Desktop
10 25 (2.44%) Firmware
11 22 (2.15%) NFS
12 14 (1.37%) BitLocker
12 14 (1.37%) vCloud
13 9 (0.88%) Microsoft App-V
13 9 (0.88%) Postfix
13 9 (0.88%) Squid
14 8 (0.78%) Virtual Servers
14 8 (0.78%) VMware Workstation
15 7 (0.68%) Ceph
16 6 (0.59%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 213 (20.80%) Terraform
2 155 (15.14%) Ansible
3 122 (11.91%) Kubernetes
4 111 (10.84%) Microsoft Intune
5 80 (7.81%) SCCM
6 60 (5.86%) Single Sign-On
7 58 (5.66%) vCenter Server
8 55 (5.37%) Grafana
9 43 (4.20%) Prometheus
10 33 (3.22%) FortiGate
11 32 (3.13%) SCOM
12 31 (3.03%) WSUS
13 18 (1.76%) Argo
14 16 (1.56%) VxRail
15 15 (1.46%) NetBackup
16 14 (1.37%) Jamf Pro
16 14 (1.37%) Puppet
17 12 (1.17%) Packer
18 11 (1.07%) Istio
18 11 (1.07%) vMotion
Vendors
1 377 (36.82%) Microsoft
2 325 (31.74%) VMware
3 186 (18.16%) Cisco
4 135 (13.18%) F5
5 92 (8.98%) ServiceNow
6 68 (6.64%) Citrix
7 64 (6.25%) Google
8 63 (6.15%) Infoblox
9 58 (5.66%) SolarWinds
10 57 (5.57%) Splunk
11 48 (4.69%) Juniper
12 45 (4.39%) Red Hat
13 43 (4.20%) Palo Alto
14 36 (3.52%) Dynatrace
15 35 (3.42%) NetApp
16 28 (2.73%) Fortinet
17 27 (2.64%) CheckPoint
17 27 (2.64%) Zscaler
18 25 (2.44%) Blue Coat
18 25 (2.44%) McAfee