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 16 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 145 136 151
Rank change year-on-year -9 +15 -18
Contract jobs citing DNS 1,013 702 630
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.87% 2.13% 1.65%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 19.98% 18.44% 13.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 618 444 408
10th Percentile £300 £219 £225
25th Percentile £410 £375 £355
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £650 £650 £681
UK excluding London median daily rate £505 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +6.32% - -2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 57 31 12
10th Percentile £26.40 £25.15 £20.13
25th Percentile £31.25 £29.00 £22.64
Median hourly rate £63.48 £45.00 £23.99
Median % change year-on-year +41.07% +87.58% -49.49%
75th Percentile £76.50 £78.18 £32.00
90th Percentile £96.53 £89.63 £47.68
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.00 £45.00 £27.10
% change year-on-year +48.89% +66.05% -32.25%

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 5,069 3,807 4,537
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.34% 11.56% 11.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,937 2,354 2,642
10th Percentile £231 £225 £225
25th Percentile £389 £363 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £476 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.04% -4.80% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £608
90th Percentile £675 £677 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £452 £500
% change year-on-year +5.20% -9.70% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 414 198 255
10th Percentile £14.46 £15.50 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £25.15 £21.37
Median hourly rate £29.50 £43.00 £50.50
Median % change year-on-year -31.40% -14.85% -10.60%
75th Percentile £67.49 £64.69 £65.00
90th Percentile £88.67 £75.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.14 £42.50 £57.35
% change year-on-year -38.49% -25.89% -0.26%

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 16 September 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 16 September 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 16 September 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 -12 917 £500 - 1,011
UK excluding London -10 630 £505 +6.32% 607
London -48 319 £490 -2.00% 492
Work from Home -16 238 £500 +4.60% 344
North of England +20 210 £500 +11.86% 109
South East 0 175 £538 +4.88% 188
North West +18 129 £492 +9.59% 71
Midlands -30 114 £450 -2.70% 101
South West -2 96 £567 +3.14% 90
West Midlands -42 93 £450 -5.26% 59
Yorkshire -8 67 £500 - 25
East of England -37 41 £475 -13.64% 46
Scotland +2 39 £488 +7.38% 57
East Midlands +4 20 £413 -8.33% 42
North East -35 14 £419 +23.16% 15
Wales -5 10 £440 +16.02% 9

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
1 110 (10.86%) Microsoft Exchange
2 92 (9.08%) SharePoint
3 31 (3.06%) Confluence
4 16 (1.58%) Apache
5 14 (1.38%) nginx
6 12 (1.18%) IIS
7 8 (0.79%) Skype for Business
7 8 (0.79%) Tomcat
8 5 (0.49%) OpenStack
9 3 (0.30%) Exchange Server 2010
9 3 (0.30%) Exchange Server 2013
9 3 (0.30%) WebSphere
10 1 (0.099%) Apache Spark
10 1 (0.099%) CMS
10 1 (0.099%) Drupal
10 1 (0.099%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 1 (0.099%) Traefik
10 1 (0.099%) WebSphere Application Server
10 1 (0.099%) WebSphere Portal
10 1 (0.099%) WordPress
Applications
1 24 (2.37%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (1.09%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (1.09%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.20%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 2 (0.20%) Chatbot
4 2 (0.20%) Houdini
4 2 (0.20%) NUKE
5 1 (0.099%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.099%) Mozilla Thunderbird
Business Applications
1 13 (1.28%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.099%) Magento
2 1 (0.099%) Oracle Retail
Cloud Services
1 418 (41.26%) Azure
2 208 (20.53%) AWS
3 192 (18.95%) Microsoft 365
4 185 (18.26%) Entra ID
5 86 (8.49%) GCP
6 81 (8.00%) GitHub
7 55 (5.43%) IaaS
8 54 (5.33%) OneDrive
9 48 (4.74%) Azure DevOps
10 45 (4.44%) GitHub Actions
11 41 (4.05%) Azure Monitor
12 40 (3.95%) SaaS
13 32 (3.16%) PaaS
14 30 (2.96%) OpenShift
15 27 (2.67%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 27 (2.67%) Serverless
15 27 (2.67%) Virtual Private Cloud
16 25 (2.47%) Amazon EKS
16 25 (2.47%) AWS CloudFormation
17 23 (2.27%) Azure Key Vault
Communications & Networking
1 484 (47.78%) DHCP
2 364 (35.93%) Firewall
3 299 (29.52%) TCP/IP
4 281 (27.74%) VPN
5 136 (13.43%) Network Security
6 130 (12.83%) VLAN
7 116 (11.45%) WAN
8 106 (10.46%) SSL
9 87 (8.59%) LAN
10 84 (8.29%) BGP
11 80 (7.90%) Wireless
12 71 (7.01%) Wi-Fi
13 70 (6.91%) HTTP
14 67 (6.61%) BIG-IP
15 61 (6.02%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 60 (5.92%) SAN
17 54 (5.33%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
18 45 (4.44%) OSPF
19 43 (4.24%) DMZ
19 43 (4.24%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (5.03%) SQL Server
2 27 (2.67%) PostgreSQL
3 14 (1.38%) Amazon RDS
3 14 (1.38%) MongoDB
4 13 (1.28%) MySQL
5 9 (0.89%) Data Lake
6 8 (0.79%) Elasticsearch
6 8 (0.79%) NoSQL
6 8 (0.79%) Power BI
7 7 (0.69%) Azure SQL Database
7 7 (0.69%) Redis
8 5 (0.49%) Big Data
8 5 (0.49%) MariaDB
9 4 (0.39%) Db2
10 3 (0.30%) Metadata
10 3 (0.30%) SQLPlus
11 2 (0.20%) Amazon Aurora
11 2 (0.20%) Flink
11 2 (0.20%) KDB
12 1 (0.099%) Cloud Spanner
Development Applications
1 83 (8.19%) JIRA
2 58 (5.73%) Jenkins
3 47 (4.64%) Git
4 37 (3.65%) GitLab
5 14 (1.38%) Fiddler
6 11 (1.09%) Bitbucket
7 7 (0.69%) Sonatype Nexus
8 5 (0.49%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 5 (0.49%) Chocolatey
8 5 (0.49%) Selenium
9 4 (0.39%) Browser DevTools
10 3 (0.30%) MSI
11 2 (0.20%) Artifactory
11 2 (0.20%) Spinnaker
11 2 (0.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
11 2 (0.20%) Vagrant
12 1 (0.099%) Locust
12 1 (0.099%) Newman
12 1 (0.099%) Robot Framework
12 1 (0.099%) TestCafe
General
1 280 (27.64%) Social Skills
2 121 (11.94%) Analytical Skills
3 87 (8.59%) Finance
4 80 (7.90%) Public Sector
5 60 (5.92%) Banking
6 54 (5.33%) Documentation Skills
7 36 (3.55%) Telecoms
8 27 (2.67%) Investment Banking
9 17 (1.68%) Legal
10 13 (1.28%) Aerospace
10 13 (1.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 12 (1.18%) Local Government
12 11 (1.09%) Military
12 11 (1.09%) Police
13 10 (0.99%) Manufacturing
13 10 (0.99%) Organisational Skills
14 8 (0.79%) Front Office
14 8 (0.79%) Pharmaceutical
15 7 (0.69%) Law
16 6 (0.59%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 185 (18.26%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 170 (16.78%) Network Engineer
3 122 (12.04%) Senior
4 100 (9.87%) Support Engineer
5 83 (8.19%) Cloud Engineer
6 76 (7.50%) Architect
7 51 (5.03%) IT Support
8 50 (4.94%) Analyst
9 49 (4.84%) IT Engineer
9 49 (4.84%) Security Engineer
10 48 (4.74%) Platform Engineer
11 46 (4.54%) Azure Engineer
12 43 (4.24%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 42 (4.15%) DevOps Engineer
14 38 (3.75%) Administrator
15 35 (3.46%) Cisco Engineer
15 35 (3.46%) Network Security Engineer
16 33 (3.26%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 33 (3.26%) IT Support Engineer
16 33 (3.26%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 216 (21.32%) Terraform
2 41 (4.05%) SAML
3 35 (3.46%) 802.1X
4 30 (2.96%) OAuth
5 29 (2.86%) ARM Templates
5 29 (2.86%) LDAP
6 26 (2.57%) OpenID
7 24 (2.37%) REST
8 20 (1.97%) Kafka
9 18 (1.78%) JSON
10 15 (1.48%) OpenTelemetry
11 13 (1.28%) YAML
12 12 (1.18%) OAuth2
13 10 (0.99%) CSS
13 10 (0.99%) Elastic Stack
14 8 (0.79%) React
15 7 (0.69%) .NET
15 7 (0.69%) Jinja
15 7 (0.69%) Software Packaging
16 6 (0.59%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 124 (12.24%) Data Centre
2 106 (10.46%) PKI
3 76 (7.50%) Hybrid Cloud
4 74 (7.31%) Onboarding
5 55 (5.43%) Management Information System
6 46 (4.54%) Cloud Native
7 30 (2.96%) Public Cloud
8 29 (2.86%) Replication
9 27 (2.67%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 23 (2.27%) Clustering
11 22 (2.17%) Self-Motivation
12 21 (2.07%) Linux Command Line
13 16 (1.58%) Distributed Systems
14 15 (1.48%) Cyber Threat
14 15 (1.48%) Enterprise Software
14 15 (1.48%) Security Posture
15 14 (1.38%) Driving Licence
15 14 (1.38%) Enterprise Cloud
16 12 (1.18%) Operational Technology
17 11 (1.09%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 478 (47.19%) Windows
2 266 (26.26%) Windows Server
3 226 (22.31%) Linux
4 66 (6.52%) Windows 10
5 49 (4.84%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 43 (4.24%) Windows Server 2019
7 36 (3.55%) Mac OS
8 28 (2.76%) Unix
9 26 (2.57%) Ubuntu
9 26 (2.57%) Windows Server 2012
10 24 (2.37%) Apple iOS
11 22 (2.17%) Android
12 21 (2.07%) CentOS
13 16 (1.58%) VMS
14 15 (1.48%) Windows Server 2016
15 12 (1.18%) Windows 7
16 7 (0.69%) Rocky
16 7 (0.69%) Windows Server 2008
17 4 (0.39%) AIX
17 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 254 (25.07%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 226 (22.31%) Problem-Solving
3 194 (19.15%) ITIL
4 193 (19.05%) Infrastructure as Code
5 176 (17.37%) DevOps
6 168 (16.58%) Load Balancing
7 162 (15.99%) CI/CD
8 157 (15.50%) Migration
9 126 (12.44%) ITSM
10 117 (11.55%) High Availability
11 114 (11.25%) Continuous Improvement
12 110 (10.86%) Agile
13 97 (9.58%) Cybersecurity
14 92 (9.08%) Technical Leadership
15 91 (8.98%) Disaster Recovery
15 91 (8.98%) Observability
16 88 (8.69%) Project Delivery
17 87 (8.59%) Platform Engineering
18 83 (8.19%) Runbook
19 81 (8.00%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 271 (26.75%) PowerShell
2 216 (21.32%) Python
3 152 (15.00%) Bash
4 68 (6.71%) SQL
5 50 (4.94%) Bicep
6 17 (1.68%) Shell Script
7 16 (1.58%) ActionScript
8 15 (1.48%) Go
8 15 (1.48%) JavaScript
9 11 (1.09%) Java
10 10 (0.99%) VBScript
11 9 (0.89%) Perl
12 7 (0.69%) Groovy
12 7 (0.69%) VBA
13 6 (0.59%) TypeScript
13 6 (0.59%) VB
14 4 (0.39%) Kusto Query Language
14 4 (0.39%) Ruby
15 3 (0.30%) C
15 3 (0.30%) Lisp
Qualifications
1 377 (37.22%) Security Cleared
2 213 (21.03%) SC Cleared
3 164 (16.19%) DV Cleared
4 88 (8.69%) Cisco Certification
5 85 (8.39%) Degree
6 72 (7.11%) CCNP
7 57 (5.63%) Azure Certification
8 55 (5.43%) Microsoft Certification
9 48 (4.74%) CCNA
10 27 (2.67%) Network+ Certification
11 26 (2.57%) Computer Science Degree
12 23 (2.27%) AWS Certification
13 19 (1.88%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 17 (1.68%) BPSS Clearance
15 16 (1.58%) CCIE
16 15 (1.48%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 15 (1.48%) VCAP
17 12 (1.18%) MCSE
18 11 (1.09%) A+ Certification
18 11 (1.09%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (4.15%) SLA
2 24 (2.37%) NIST
3 18 (1.78%) NCSC
3 18 (1.78%) QA
4 16 (1.58%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 8 (0.79%) Cyber Essentials
6 6 (0.59%) GDPR
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 3 (0.30%) SOC 2
10 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.20%) Data Quality
10 2 (0.20%) Government Security Classifications
10 2 (0.20%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.20%) PCI DSS
10 2 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 441 (43.53%) Active Directory
2 282 (27.84%) VMware Infrastructure
3 123 (12.14%) Hyper-V
4 86 (8.49%) VMware ESXi
5 83 (8.19%) vSphere
6 70 (6.91%) VMware NSX
7 65 (6.42%) Docker
8 49 (4.84%) Virtual Machines
9 39 (3.85%) Virtual Desktop
10 22 (2.17%) Firmware
11 21 (2.07%) NFS
12 16 (1.58%) vCloud
13 11 (1.09%) BitLocker
14 10 (0.99%) Squid
14 10 (0.99%) Virtual Servers
15 9 (0.89%) Postfix
16 8 (0.79%) Ceph
16 8 (0.79%) UAG
17 6 (0.59%) Microsoft App-V
17 6 (0.59%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 156 (15.40%) Ansible
2 132 (13.03%) Kubernetes
3 114 (11.25%) Microsoft Intune
4 82 (8.09%) SCCM
5 70 (6.91%) vCenter Server
6 62 (6.12%) Grafana
7 58 (5.73%) Single Sign-On
8 49 (4.84%) Prometheus
9 39 (3.85%) SCOM
10 34 (3.36%) WSUS
11 25 (2.47%) FortiGate
12 17 (1.68%) Jamf Pro
12 17 (1.68%) NetBackup
13 16 (1.58%) Argo
13 16 (1.58%) Packer
13 16 (1.58%) VxRail
14 15 (1.48%) Puppet
15 14 (1.38%) Istio
16 10 (0.99%) Active Directory Federation Services
16 10 (0.99%) systemd
Vendors
1 398 (39.29%) Microsoft
2 342 (33.76%) VMware
3 185 (18.26%) Cisco
4 133 (13.13%) F5
5 88 (8.69%) ServiceNow
6 57 (5.63%) Infoblox
7 56 (5.53%) Citrix
8 54 (5.33%) Palo Alto
9 51 (5.03%) Google
10 50 (4.94%) SolarWinds
11 48 (4.74%) Splunk
12 45 (4.44%) Red Hat
13 42 (4.15%) Juniper
14 36 (3.55%) Dynatrace
15 35 (3.46%) NetApp
16 33 (3.26%) CheckPoint
17 30 (2.96%) Fortinet
17 30 (2.96%) Zscaler
18 24 (2.37%) Blue Coat
18 24 (2.37%) CyberArk