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

6 months to
24 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 148 132 161
Rank change year-on-year -16 +29 -24
Contract jobs citing DNS 1,030 710 602
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.92% 2.15% 1.55%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.36% 18.22% 12.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 629 454 411
10th Percentile £300 £250 £240
25th Percentile £413 £388 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £588
90th Percentile £648 £650 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - +5.26%
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 5,060 3,897 4,677
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.43% 11.81% 12.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,979 2,376 2,817
10th Percentile £250 £243 £221
25th Percentile £400 £368 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £483 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.52% -3.40% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £478 £470 £500
% change year-on-year +1.70% -6.00% +10.19%
Number of hourly rates quoted 375 201 302
10th Percentile £15.18 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £25.15 £20.50
Median hourly rate £26.14 £46.25 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -43.48% -7.50% -10.56%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £81.35 £74.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.14 £44.50 £54.94
% change year-on-year -41.26% -19.00% -4.32%

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 24 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 24 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 24 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 -8 931 £500 -4.76% 317
UK excluding London -5 644 £500 - 262
London -38 317 £500 -0.99% 98
Work from Home -22 237 £510 +0.74% 112
North of England +32 232 £492 +0.82% 43
South East +7 183 £538 -2.27% 104
North West +34 150 £474 +3.61% 23
Midlands -14 119 £450 -5.26% 35
West Midlands -24 97 £450 -5.26% 28
South West +2 95 £550 +0.92% 41
Yorkshire -4 68 £500 -9.09% 15
Scotland +4 37 £525 +15.64% 6
East of England -53 33 £463 -15.91% 34
East Midlands -1 20 £431 -21.59% 7
North East -35 14 £413 +21.32% 6
Wales -13 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
1 105 (10.19%) Microsoft Exchange
2 90 (8.74%) SharePoint
3 24 (2.33%) Confluence
4 19 (1.84%) Apache
5 16 (1.55%) IIS
6 12 (1.17%) nginx
7 9 (0.87%) Tomcat
8 6 (0.58%) Skype for Business
9 5 (0.49%) WebSphere
10 3 (0.29%) Exchange Server 2010
10 3 (0.29%) Exchange Server 2013
11 2 (0.19%) IBM HTTP Server
11 2 (0.19%) OpenStack
11 2 (0.19%) Oracle HTTP Server
11 2 (0.19%) WebSphere Application Server
11 2 (0.19%) WebSphere Portal
12 1 (0.097%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 24 (2.33%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.17%) MS Visio
3 10 (0.97%) 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 11 (1.07%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.097%) Oracle Retail
Cloud Services
1 419 (40.68%) Azure
2 215 (20.87%) AWS
3 184 (17.86%) Microsoft 365
4 181 (17.57%) Entra ID
5 109 (10.58%) GCP
6 74 (7.18%) GitHub
7 56 (5.44%) IaaS
8 55 (5.34%) OneDrive
9 46 (4.47%) Azure DevOps
10 41 (3.98%) Azure Monitor
11 39 (3.79%) PaaS
12 38 (3.69%) GitHub Actions
12 38 (3.69%) SaaS
13 30 (2.91%) OpenShift
14 28 (2.72%) Serverless
15 26 (2.52%) Amazon EKS
15 26 (2.52%) Azure ExpressRoute
16 25 (2.43%) AWS CloudFormation
17 23 (2.23%) Azure AKS
17 23 (2.23%) Google Kubernetes Engine
Communications & Networking
1 479 (46.50%) DHCP
2 367 (35.63%) Firewall
3 294 (28.54%) TCP/IP
4 285 (27.67%) VPN
5 132 (12.82%) VLAN
6 128 (12.43%) Network Security
6 128 (12.43%) WAN
7 105 (10.19%) LAN
8 101 (9.81%) SSL
9 95 (9.22%) BGP
10 75 (7.28%) HTTP
10 75 (7.28%) Wireless
11 72 (6.99%) Wi-Fi
12 71 (6.89%) BIG-IP
13 63 (6.12%) SAN
14 56 (5.44%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
15 50 (4.85%) OSPF
16 49 (4.76%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
17 48 (4.66%) DMZ
18 38 (3.69%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 52 (5.05%) SQL Server
2 22 (2.14%) PostgreSQL
3 10 (0.97%) Azure SQL Database
3 10 (0.97%) Elasticsearch
3 10 (0.97%) MongoDB
3 10 (0.97%) MySQL
3 10 (0.97%) Power BI
4 9 (0.87%) Amazon RDS
5 6 (0.58%) Data Lake
6 5 (0.49%) MariaDB
6 5 (0.49%) NoSQL
7 4 (0.39%) Db2
7 4 (0.39%) Redis
8 3 (0.29%) Big Data
8 3 (0.29%) SQLPlus
9 2 (0.19%) KDB
10 1 (0.097%) Cloud Spanner
10 1 (0.097%) DynamoDB
10 1 (0.097%) Metadata
10 1 (0.097%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 73 (7.09%) JIRA
2 52 (5.05%) Jenkins
3 42 (4.08%) Git
4 33 (3.20%) GitLab
5 17 (1.65%) Fiddler
6 12 (1.17%) 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 3 (0.29%) MSI
12 2 (0.19%) Artifactory
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 (0.097%) Maven
13 1 (0.097%) SonarQube
13 1 (0.097%) Visual Studio
General
1 265 (25.73%) Social Skills
2 123 (11.94%) Analytical Skills
3 98 (9.51%) Finance
4 84 (8.16%) Public Sector
5 70 (6.80%) Banking
6 58 (5.63%) Documentation Skills
7 33 (3.20%) Investment Banking
8 31 (3.01%) Telecoms
9 22 (2.14%) 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 6 (0.58%) Front Office
16 6 (0.58%) Law
16 6 (0.58%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 184 (17.86%) Infrastructure Engineer
1 184 (17.86%) Network Engineer
2 124 (12.04%) Senior
3 99 (9.61%) Support Engineer
4 86 (8.35%) Architect
5 77 (7.48%) Cloud Engineer
6 56 (5.44%) Analyst
7 55 (5.34%) Security Engineer
8 47 (4.56%) IT Engineer
8 47 (4.56%) IT Support
9 45 (4.37%) Platform Engineer
10 44 (4.27%) Azure Engineer
11 42 (4.08%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 41 (3.98%) DevOps Engineer
13 40 (3.88%) Cisco Engineer
14 39 (3.79%) Web Engineer
15 38 (3.69%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 37 (3.59%) Administrator
16 37 (3.59%) Network Security Engineer
17 35 (3.40%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 217 (21.07%) Terraform
2 48 (4.66%) SAML
3 38 (3.69%) 802.1X
4 33 (3.20%) OAuth
5 29 (2.82%) OpenID
6 28 (2.72%) LDAP
7 27 (2.62%) ARM Templates
8 19 (1.84%) JSON
9 17 (1.65%) OpenTelemetry
9 17 (1.65%) REST
10 16 (1.55%) Kafka
11 13 (1.26%) YAML
12 11 (1.07%) OAuth2
13 8 (0.78%) React
14 7 (0.68%) CSS
14 7 (0.68%) Middleware
15 6 (0.58%) Elastic Stack
15 6 (0.58%) Software Packaging
16 5 (0.49%) gRPC
16 5 (0.49%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 127 (12.33%) Data Centre
2 107 (10.39%) PKI
3 71 (6.89%) Hybrid Cloud
4 70 (6.80%) Onboarding
5 56 (5.44%) Management Information System
6 50 (4.85%) Cloud Native
7 38 (3.69%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 32 (3.11%) Clustering
9 27 (2.62%) Public Cloud
10 26 (2.52%) Replication
11 25 (2.43%) Self-Motivation
12 19 (1.84%) Enterprise Cloud
13 17 (1.65%) Linux Command Line
14 16 (1.55%) Distributed Systems
14 16 (1.55%) Driving Licence
14 16 (1.55%) Enterprise Software
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
1 468 (45.44%) Windows
2 263 (25.53%) Windows Server
3 220 (21.36%) Linux
4 62 (6.02%) Windows 10
5 48 (4.66%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 39 (3.79%) Windows Server 2019
7 32 (3.11%) Mac OS
8 27 (2.62%) Unix
8 27 (2.62%) Windows Server 2012
9 22 (2.14%) Ubuntu
10 20 (1.94%) Apple iOS
11 18 (1.75%) Android
11 18 (1.75%) VMS
12 17 (1.65%) CentOS
13 16 (1.55%) Windows Server 2016
14 12 (1.17%) Windows 7
15 7 (0.68%) Rocky
15 7 (0.68%) Windows Server 2008
16 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2003
17 3 (0.29%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 248 (24.08%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 224 (21.75%) Problem-Solving
3 189 (18.35%) ITIL
4 185 (17.96%) Infrastructure as Code
5 182 (17.67%) Load Balancing
6 169 (16.41%) DevOps
7 165 (16.02%) Migration
8 156 (15.15%) CI/CD
9 127 (12.33%) ITSM
10 125 (12.14%) High Availability
11 109 (10.58%) Continuous Improvement
12 97 (9.42%) Agile
12 97 (9.42%) Cybersecurity
12 97 (9.42%) Observability
13 90 (8.74%) Project Delivery
14 88 (8.54%) Disaster Recovery
14 88 (8.54%) Technical Leadership
15 86 (8.35%) Platform Engineering
16 85 (8.25%) Runbook
17 78 (7.57%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 259 (25.15%) PowerShell
2 216 (20.97%) Python
3 158 (15.34%) Bash
4 67 (6.50%) SQL
5 46 (4.47%) Bicep
6 21 (2.04%) JavaScript
7 16 (1.55%) 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 7 (0.68%) VBA
13 6 (0.58%) Groovy
13 6 (0.58%) TypeScript
13 6 (0.58%) VB
14 5 (0.49%) Ruby
15 3 (0.29%) C
15 3 (0.29%) Lisp
16 2 (0.19%) C++
Qualifications
1 380 (36.89%) Security Cleared
2 214 (20.78%) SC Cleared
3 161 (15.63%) DV Cleared
4 101 (9.81%) Cisco Certification
5 84 (8.16%) Degree
6 76 (7.38%) CCNP
7 55 (5.34%) CCNA
8 51 (4.95%) Azure Certification
9 49 (4.76%) Microsoft Certification
10 30 (2.91%) Network+ Certification
11 24 (2.33%) Computer Science Degree
12 21 (2.04%) AWS Certification
13 18 (1.75%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 17 (1.65%) BPSS Clearance
14 17 (1.65%) CCIE
15 15 (1.46%) Server+ Certification
15 15 (1.46%) VCAP
16 13 (1.26%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
17 11 (1.07%) ITIL Certification
17 11 (1.07%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (3.98%) SLA
2 26 (2.52%) NIST
3 17 (1.65%) NCSC
4 16 (1.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 13 (1.26%) 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
1 437 (42.43%) Active Directory
2 278 (26.99%) VMware Infrastructure
3 127 (12.33%) Hyper-V
4 76 (7.38%) VMware ESXi
5 75 (7.28%) vSphere
6 69 (6.70%) VMware NSX
7 57 (5.53%) Docker
8 43 (4.17%) 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 10 (0.97%) Virtual Servers
15 9 (0.87%) Microsoft App-V
15 9 (0.87%) Postfix
15 9 (0.87%) Squid
16 8 (0.78%) Ceph
16 8 (0.78%) VMware Workstation
17 6 (0.58%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 163 (15.83%) Ansible
2 131 (12.72%) Kubernetes
3 109 (10.58%) Microsoft Intune
4 80 (7.77%) SCCM
5 64 (6.21%) Single Sign-On
6 63 (6.12%) vCenter Server
7 56 (5.44%) Grafana
8 44 (4.27%) Prometheus
9 33 (3.20%) SCOM
10 32 (3.11%) FortiGate
11 31 (3.01%) WSUS
12 18 (1.75%) Argo
13 16 (1.55%) VxRail
14 15 (1.46%) NetBackup
14 15 (1.46%) Puppet
15 14 (1.36%) Packer
16 13 (1.26%) Jamf Pro
17 12 (1.17%) Istio
17 12 (1.17%) vMotion
18 11 (1.07%) Active Directory Federation Services
Vendors
1 377 (36.60%) Microsoft
2 333 (32.33%) VMware
3 192 (18.64%) Cisco
4 133 (12.91%) F5
5 91 (8.83%) ServiceNow
6 64 (6.21%) Citrix
7 62 (6.02%) Infoblox
8 61 (5.92%) Google
9 56 (5.44%) Splunk
10 54 (5.24%) SolarWinds
11 46 (4.47%) Red Hat
12 45 (4.37%) Palo Alto
13 43 (4.17%) Juniper
14 38 (3.69%) NetApp
15 37 (3.59%) Dynatrace
16 31 (3.01%) Fortinet
17 30 (2.91%) CheckPoint
18 28 (2.72%) Zscaler
19 25 (2.43%) McAfee
20 24 (2.33%) CyberArk