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

6 months to
15 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 145 134 157
Rank change year-on-year -11 +23 -24
Contract jobs citing DNS 1,043 689 596
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.94% 2.09% 1.53%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.63% 17.70% 12.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 640 446 410
10th Percentile £293 £253 £242
25th Percentile £409 £389 £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% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 52 32 15
10th Percentile £26.66 £29.00 £20.00
25th Percentile £31.25 £37.06 £23.45
Median hourly rate £65.24 £61.25 £24.20
Median % change year-on-year +6.51% +153.10% -39.50%
75th Percentile £74.26 £82.33 £49.38
90th Percentile £98.44 £89.17 £63.51
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.00 £65.00 £48.03
% change year-on-year +3.08% +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 5,056 3,893 4,759
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.42% 11.81% 12.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,991 2,365 2,897
10th Percentile £250 £247 £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 £490 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.05% -5.00% +8.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 366 201 321
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £25.15 £20.00
Median hourly rate £26.14 £46.25 £48.56
Median % change year-on-year -43.48% -4.76% -10.07%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £82.10 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.40 £45.00 £54.88
% change year-on-year -41.33% -18.00% -3.58%

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 15 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 15 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 15 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 -5 949 £500 -4.76% 573
UK excluding London +3 646 £500 -4.76% 323
London -30 327 £500 - 300
Work from Home -10 240 £510 -2.86% 178
North of England +32 232 £475 -5.00% 65
South East +15 199 £538 -2.27% 112
North West +30 151 £483 +3.87% 36
Midlands -12 119 £450 -5.26% 42
West Midlands -19 97 £431 -9.21% 30
South West -4 87 £513 -12.77% 42
Yorkshire -13 68 £488 -11.36% 20
Scotland +5 33 £550 +20.22% 20
East of England -52 31 £450 -18.18% 38
East Midlands -3 20 £413 -25.00% 12
North East -39 13 £319 -21.78% 10
Wales -11 8 £463 +21.95% 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
1 105 (10.07%) Microsoft Exchange
2 91 (8.72%) SharePoint
3 24 (2.30%) Confluence
4 19 (1.82%) Apache
5 16 (1.53%) IIS
6 14 (1.34%) nginx
7 9 (0.86%) Tomcat
8 6 (0.58%) Skype for Business
9 5 (0.48%) WebSphere
10 4 (0.38%) 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 (0.096%) SharePoint Server
13 1 (0.096%) Traefik
Applications
1 26 (2.49%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.15%) MS Visio
3 9 (0.86%) 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 (0.96%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 419 (40.17%) Azure
2 215 (20.61%) AWS
3 181 (17.35%) Entra ID
3 181 (17.35%) Microsoft 365
4 114 (10.93%) GCP
5 76 (7.29%) GitHub
6 60 (5.75%) IaaS
7 54 (5.18%) OneDrive
8 45 (4.31%) Azure DevOps
9 42 (4.03%) PaaS
10 41 (3.93%) SaaS
11 39 (3.74%) Azure Monitor
12 36 (3.45%) GitHub Actions
13 31 (2.97%) OpenShift
14 29 (2.78%) Google Kubernetes Engine
15 28 (2.68%) AWS CloudFormation
16 27 (2.59%) Serverless
17 25 (2.40%) Akamai
17 25 (2.40%) Azure ExpressRoute
18 24 (2.30%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 485 (46.50%) DHCP
2 376 (36.05%) Firewall
3 288 (27.61%) TCP/IP
4 285 (27.33%) VPN
5 142 (13.61%) WAN
6 129 (12.37%) VLAN
7 127 (12.18%) Network Security
8 120 (11.51%) LAN
9 104 (9.97%) SSL
10 103 (9.88%) BGP
11 83 (7.96%) BIG-IP
12 74 (7.09%) HTTP
13 71 (6.81%) Wi-Fi
13 71 (6.81%) Wireless
14 64 (6.14%) SAN
15 59 (5.66%) OSPF
16 55 (5.27%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
17 48 (4.60%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
18 47 (4.51%) DMZ
19 38 (3.64%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 55 (5.27%) SQL Server
2 21 (2.01%) PostgreSQL
3 12 (1.15%) Azure SQL Database
4 10 (0.96%) Elasticsearch
4 10 (0.96%) MongoDB
4 10 (0.96%) MySQL
4 10 (0.96%) Power BI
5 9 (0.86%) Amazon RDS
6 6 (0.58%) Data Lake
7 5 (0.48%) MariaDB
7 5 (0.48%) NoSQL
8 4 (0.38%) Db2
8 4 (0.38%) Redis
9 3 (0.29%) Big Data
9 3 (0.29%) SQLPlus
10 2 (0.19%) KDB
11 1 (0.096%) BigQuery
11 1 (0.096%) Cloud Spanner
11 1 (0.096%) DynamoDB
11 1 (0.096%) Flink
Development Applications
1 73 (7.00%) JIRA
2 58 (5.56%) Jenkins
3 45 (4.31%) Git
4 33 (3.16%) GitLab
5 17 (1.63%) Fiddler
6 12 (1.15%) Bitbucket
7 10 (0.96%) Browser DevTools
8 8 (0.77%) Chocolatey
9 7 (0.67%) Sonatype Nexus
10 5 (0.48%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 3 (0.29%) Artifactory
11 3 (0.29%) MSI
12 2 (0.19%) Introscope
12 2 (0.19%) Selenium
12 2 (0.19%) Spinnaker
12 2 (0.19%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
13 1 (0.096%) Maven
13 1 (0.096%) SonarQube
13 1 (0.096%) Visual Studio
General
1 263 (25.22%) Social Skills
2 123 (11.79%) Analytical Skills
3 96 (9.20%) Finance
4 84 (8.05%) Public Sector
5 72 (6.90%) Banking
6 58 (5.56%) Documentation Skills
7 33 (3.16%) Investment Banking
7 33 (3.16%) Telecoms
8 26 (2.49%) Legal
9 15 (1.44%) Military
10 13 (1.25%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 12 (1.15%) Organisational Skills
12 11 (1.05%) Local Government
12 11 (1.05%) Police
13 9 (0.86%) Manufacturing
14 8 (0.77%) Pharmaceutical
15 7 (0.67%) Aerospace
16 6 (0.58%) Influencing Skills
16 6 (0.58%) Law
16 6 (0.58%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 187 (17.93%) Network Engineer
2 180 (17.26%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 122 (11.70%) Senior
4 99 (9.49%) Support Engineer
5 92 (8.82%) Architect
6 77 (7.38%) Cloud Engineer
7 58 (5.56%) Security Engineer
8 54 (5.18%) Analyst
9 50 (4.79%) IT Engineer
10 49 (4.70%) IT Support
11 44 (4.22%) Azure Engineer
12 41 (3.93%) Platform Engineer
13 40 (3.84%) DevOps Engineer
14 39 (3.74%) Cisco Engineer
14 39 (3.74%) Network Security Engineer
14 39 (3.74%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 39 (3.74%) Web Engineer
15 38 (3.64%) Administrator
16 37 (3.55%) Cisco Network Engineer
17 35 (3.36%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (4.79%) 802.1X
2 47 (4.51%) SAML
3 31 (2.97%) OAuth
4 28 (2.68%) LDAP
4 28 (2.68%) OpenID
5 26 (2.49%) ARM Templates
6 19 (1.82%) JSON
7 17 (1.63%) OpenTelemetry
7 17 (1.63%) REST
8 15 (1.44%) Kafka
9 13 (1.25%) YAML
10 10 (0.96%) OAuth2
11 7 (0.67%) CSS
11 7 (0.67%) Middleware
11 7 (0.67%) React
12 6 (0.58%) Elastic Stack
13 5 (0.48%) .NET
13 5 (0.48%) RabbitMQ
13 5 (0.48%) Software Packaging
14 4 (0.38%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 134 (12.85%) Data Centre
2 111 (10.64%) PKI
3 69 (6.62%) Onboarding
4 66 (6.33%) Hybrid Cloud
5 53 (5.08%) Cloud Native
5 53 (5.08%) Management Information System
6 44 (4.22%) Clustering
7 42 (4.03%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 27 (2.59%) Public Cloud
9 26 (2.49%) Replication
9 26 (2.49%) Self-Motivation
10 19 (1.82%) Enterprise Cloud
11 17 (1.63%) Enterprise Software
11 17 (1.63%) Linux Command Line
12 16 (1.53%) Security Posture
13 15 (1.44%) Cyber Threat
13 15 (1.44%) Distributed Systems
13 15 (1.44%) Driving Licence
14 10 (0.96%) CMDB
14 10 (0.96%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 484 (46.40%) Windows
2 260 (24.93%) Windows Server
3 214 (20.52%) Linux
4 60 (5.75%) Windows 10
5 47 (4.51%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 41 (3.93%) Windows Server 2019
7 32 (3.07%) Mac OS
8 29 (2.78%) Unix
9 25 (2.40%) Windows Server 2012
10 20 (1.92%) Ubuntu
11 19 (1.82%) Apple iOS
12 18 (1.73%) VMS
13 17 (1.63%) Android
14 15 (1.44%) CentOS
14 15 (1.44%) Windows Server 2016
15 13 (1.25%) Windows 7
16 8 (0.77%) Windows Server 2008
17 7 (0.67%) Rocky
18 4 (0.38%) Windows Server 2003
19 3 (0.29%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 244 (23.39%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 235 (22.53%) Problem-Solving
3 190 (18.22%) ITIL
4 184 (17.64%) Load Balancing
5 179 (17.16%) Infrastructure as Code
6 173 (16.59%) Migration
7 164 (15.72%) DevOps
8 156 (14.96%) CI/CD
9 142 (13.61%) High Availability
10 131 (12.56%) ITSM
11 105 (10.07%) Observability
12 102 (9.78%) Continuous Improvement
13 94 (9.01%) Cybersecurity
14 90 (8.63%) Agile
15 89 (8.53%) Disaster Recovery
15 89 (8.53%) Project Delivery
16 82 (7.86%) Identity Access Management
16 82 (7.86%) Technical Leadership
17 80 (7.67%) Platform Engineering
18 79 (7.57%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 254 (24.35%) PowerShell
2 214 (20.52%) Python
3 157 (15.05%) Bash
4 69 (6.62%) SQL
5 44 (4.22%) Bicep
6 25 (2.40%) JavaScript
7 15 (1.44%) Shell Script
8 13 (1.25%) Go
9 10 (0.96%) ActionScript
9 10 (0.96%) Java
9 10 (0.96%) Perl
10 8 (0.77%) VBScript
11 7 (0.67%) VBA
12 6 (0.58%) Groovy
12 6 (0.58%) VB
13 5 (0.48%) Ruby
13 5 (0.48%) TypeScript
14 3 (0.29%) C
14 3 (0.29%) Lisp
15 2 (0.19%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 384 (36.82%) Security Cleared
2 217 (20.81%) SC Cleared
3 159 (15.24%) DV Cleared
4 109 (10.45%) Cisco Certification
5 82 (7.86%) Degree
6 74 (7.09%) CCNP
7 54 (5.18%) CCNA
8 52 (4.99%) Microsoft Certification
9 49 (4.70%) Azure Certification
10 31 (2.97%) Network+ Certification
11 22 (2.11%) Computer Science Degree
12 19 (1.82%) AWS Certification
13 18 (1.73%) CCIE
14 17 (1.63%) BPSS Clearance
15 15 (1.44%) Server+ Certification
15 15 (1.44%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 14 (1.34%) MCSE
17 13 (1.25%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
17 13 (1.25%) JNCIS
18 12 (1.15%) VCAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (3.93%) SLA
2 26 (2.49%) NIST
3 17 (1.63%) NCSC
4 16 (1.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 13 (1.25%) QA
6 8 (0.77%) GDPR
7 5 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (0.48%) Disclosure Scotland
7 5 (0.48%) NIST 800
8 4 (0.38%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 4 (0.38%) 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 (0.096%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.096%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 439 (42.09%) Active Directory
2 271 (25.98%) VMware Infrastructure
3 126 (12.08%) Hyper-V
4 71 (6.81%) VMware ESXi
4 71 (6.81%) vSphere
5 67 (6.42%) VMware NSX
6 55 (5.27%) Docker
7 43 (4.12%) Virtual Machines
8 38 (3.64%) Virtual Desktop
9 25 (2.40%) Firmware
10 22 (2.11%) NFS
11 14 (1.34%) BitLocker
11 14 (1.34%) vCloud
12 9 (0.86%) Microsoft App-V
12 9 (0.86%) Postfix
12 9 (0.86%) Squid
13 8 (0.77%) Virtual Servers
13 8 (0.77%) VMware Workstation
14 7 (0.67%) Ceph
15 6 (0.58%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 217 (20.81%) Terraform
2 157 (15.05%) Ansible
3 125 (11.98%) Kubernetes
4 109 (10.45%) Microsoft Intune
5 79 (7.57%) SCCM
6 60 (5.75%) Single Sign-On
7 59 (5.66%) vCenter Server
8 56 (5.37%) Grafana
9 43 (4.12%) FortiGate
9 43 (4.12%) Prometheus
10 32 (3.07%) SCOM
10 32 (3.07%) WSUS
11 19 (1.82%) Argo
12 16 (1.53%) VxRail
13 15 (1.44%) NetBackup
14 14 (1.34%) Jamf Pro
14 14 (1.34%) Puppet
15 12 (1.15%) Istio
15 12 (1.15%) Packer
16 11 (1.05%) vMotion
Vendors
1 377 (36.15%) Microsoft
2 329 (31.54%) VMware
3 197 (18.89%) Cisco
4 145 (13.90%) F5
5 92 (8.82%) ServiceNow
6 69 (6.62%) Citrix
6 69 (6.62%) Splunk
7 68 (6.52%) SolarWinds
8 65 (6.23%) Google
9 63 (6.04%) Infoblox
10 58 (5.56%) Juniper
11 46 (4.41%) Red Hat
12 43 (4.12%) Palo Alto
13 37 (3.55%) Dynatrace
14 35 (3.36%) NetApp
15 28 (2.68%) Fortinet
16 27 (2.59%) CheckPoint
16 27 (2.59%) Zscaler
17 26 (2.49%) Blue Coat
17 26 (2.49%) CyberArk