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

6 months to
23 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 143 130 159
Rank change year-on-year -13 +29 -16
Contract jobs citing DNS 1,014 722 633
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.92% 2.21% 1.54%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.35% 18.19% 12.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 624 481 426
10th Percentile £280 £285 £241
25th Percentile £400 £406 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £486
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +7.97% -5.12%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £588
90th Percentile £638 £653 £658
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 46 31 19
10th Percentile £20.88 £29.00 £19.70
25th Percentile £26.66 £34.38 £23.80
Median hourly rate £36.36 £57.50 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year -36.77% +130.00% -37.50%
75th Percentile £74.00 £82.55 £40.00
90th Percentile £91.91 £89.63 £55.77
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.96 £65.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year -40.06% +62.50% -

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 4,983 3,969 5,105
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.45% 12.15% 12.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,000 2,423 3,051
10th Percentile £250 £235 £213
25th Percentile £400 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £490 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.15% -2.10% -
75th Percentile £588 £590 £601
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% +9.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 328 194 377
10th Percentile £16.00 £14.99 £13.95
25th Percentile £19.34 £25.15 £17.63
Median hourly rate £26.22 £46.88 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -44.06% +17.19% -16.52%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £83.70 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.66 £42.50 £47.50
% change year-on-year -37.27% -10.53% -16.67%

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 July 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 July 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 July 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 -14 914 £500 -6.54% 316
UK excluding London -4 638 £500 -4.76% 250
London -39 305 £475 -7.09% 111
North of England +17 237 £450 -10.00% 44
Work from Home -34 231 £510 -2.86% 109
South East +5 199 £538 -2.27% 86
North West +33 153 £450 -1.64% 22
Midlands -11 112 £450 -5.26% 31
West Midlands -20 93 £450 -5.26% 22
South West -3 78 £500 -13.04% 45
Yorkshire -17 77 £468 -15.00% 18
Scotland +19 37 £550 +22.22% 15
East of England -57 30 £450 -18.18% 34
East Midlands -6 17 £413 -25.00% 9
Wales -13 9 £500 +13.70% 3
North East -40 7 £319 -7.61% 7

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 96 (9.47%) Microsoft Exchange
2 78 (7.69%) SharePoint
3 20 (1.97%) Confluence
4 16 (1.58%) Apache
5 15 (1.48%) IIS
6 13 (1.28%) nginx
7 9 (0.89%) Tomcat
8 5 (0.49%) WebSphere
9 4 (0.39%) Exchange Server 2010
10 2 (0.20%) IBM HTTP Server
10 2 (0.20%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 2 (0.20%) WebSphere Application Server
10 2 (0.20%) WebSphere Portal
11 1 (0.099%) SharePoint Server
11 1 (0.099%) Traefik
Applications
1 20 (1.97%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.18%) MS Visio
3 5 (0.49%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.20%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.20%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.20%) Houdini
5 2 (0.20%) NUKE
6 1 (0.099%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 10 (0.99%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.099%) Cloudability
Cloud Services
1 384 (37.87%) Azure
2 191 (18.84%) AWS
3 172 (16.96%) Entra ID
4 164 (16.17%) Microsoft 365
5 109 (10.75%) GCP
6 72 (7.10%) GitHub
7 59 (5.82%) IaaS
8 51 (5.03%) OneDrive
9 44 (4.34%) PaaS
10 43 (4.24%) SaaS
11 39 (3.85%) Azure DevOps
12 36 (3.55%) Azure Monitor
13 30 (2.96%) OpenShift
14 27 (2.66%) AWS CloudFormation
14 27 (2.66%) GitHub Actions
15 26 (2.56%) Google Kubernetes Engine
16 24 (2.37%) Amazon EC2
16 24 (2.37%) Serverless
17 23 (2.27%) Azure ExpressRoute
18 22 (2.17%) Akamai
Communications & Networking
1 460 (45.36%) DHCP
2 353 (34.81%) Firewall
3 286 (28.21%) TCP/IP
4 272 (26.82%) VPN
5 138 (13.61%) WAN
6 125 (12.33%) Network Security
7 119 (11.74%) LAN
7 119 (11.74%) VLAN
8 105 (10.36%) SSL
9 102 (10.06%) BGP
10 84 (8.28%) BIG-IP
11 73 (7.20%) HTTP
12 68 (6.71%) Wi-Fi
13 67 (6.61%) Wireless
14 61 (6.02%) SAN
15 58 (5.72%) OSPF
16 57 (5.62%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
17 42 (4.14%) DMZ
18 41 (4.04%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
19 36 (3.55%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (4.73%) SQL Server
2 13 (1.28%) Elasticsearch
2 13 (1.28%) PostgreSQL
3 12 (1.18%) Azure SQL Database
4 11 (1.08%) Power BI
5 8 (0.79%) Amazon RDS
6 6 (0.59%) Data Lake
6 6 (0.59%) MongoDB
6 6 (0.59%) MySQL
7 4 (0.39%) Db2
7 4 (0.39%) MariaDB
8 3 (0.30%) Big Data
9 2 (0.20%) NoSQL
9 2 (0.20%) SQLPlus
10 1 (0.099%) Cloud Spanner
10 1 (0.099%) DynamoDB
10 1 (0.099%) KDB
10 1 (0.099%) Redis
10 1 (0.099%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 1 (0.099%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 74 (7.30%) JIRA
2 56 (5.52%) Jenkins
3 40 (3.94%) Git
4 22 (2.17%) GitLab
5 19 (1.87%) Fiddler
6 10 (0.99%) Browser DevTools
7 8 (0.79%) Chocolatey
8 7 (0.69%) Bitbucket
9 5 (0.49%) Sonatype Nexus
10 3 (0.30%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 2 (0.20%) Artifactory
11 2 (0.20%) Introscope
11 2 (0.20%) SonarQube
11 2 (0.20%) Spinnaker
12 1 (0.099%) MSI
12 1 (0.099%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
12 1 (0.099%) Visual Studio
General
1 246 (24.26%) Social Skills
2 109 (10.75%) Analytical Skills
3 92 (9.07%) Finance
4 80 (7.89%) Public Sector
5 71 (7.00%) Banking
6 55 (5.42%) Documentation Skills
7 34 (3.35%) Investment Banking
8 28 (2.76%) Telecoms
9 22 (2.17%) Military
10 21 (2.07%) Legal
11 13 (1.28%) Organisational Skills
12 11 (1.08%) Local Government
13 10 (0.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 10 (0.99%) Police
14 6 (0.59%) Influencing Skills
14 6 (0.59%) Publishing
15 5 (0.49%) Law
15 5 (0.49%) Manufacturing
16 4 (0.39%) Italian Language
16 4 (0.39%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 188 (18.54%) Network Engineer
2 168 (16.57%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 105 (10.36%) Senior
4 101 (9.96%) Architect
5 91 (8.97%) Support Engineer
6 73 (7.20%) Cloud Engineer
7 63 (6.21%) Security Engineer
8 57 (5.62%) Analyst
9 51 (5.03%) IT Support
10 50 (4.93%) IT Engineer
11 43 (4.24%) Azure Engineer
12 42 (4.14%) Network Security Engineer
13 41 (4.04%) DevOps Engineer
13 41 (4.04%) Web Engineer
14 38 (3.75%) Administrator
14 38 (3.75%) Cisco Engineer
15 36 (3.55%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 33 (3.25%) IT Support Engineer
17 32 (3.16%) Data Engineer
17 32 (3.16%) Data Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 51 (5.03%) 802.1X
2 37 (3.65%) LDAP
3 35 (3.45%) SAML
4 25 (2.47%) ARM Templates
5 22 (2.17%) OpenID
6 21 (2.07%) OAuth
7 18 (1.78%) JSON
7 18 (1.78%) OpenTelemetry
8 10 (0.99%) REST
8 10 (0.99%) YAML
9 6 (0.59%) Kafka
9 6 (0.59%) Middleware
10 5 (0.49%) CSS
10 5 (0.49%) Microsoft Graph
11 4 (0.39%) .NET
11 4 (0.39%) eBPF
11 4 (0.39%) OAuth2
11 4 (0.39%) Web Services
12 3 (0.30%) Node.js
12 3 (0.30%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 130 (12.82%) Data Centre
2 104 (10.26%) PKI
3 61 (6.02%) Onboarding
4 60 (5.92%) Cloud Native
5 59 (5.82%) Hybrid Cloud
6 46 (4.54%) Management Information System
7 43 (4.24%) Clustering
7 43 (4.24%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 32 (3.16%) Public Cloud
9 29 (2.86%) Replication
10 28 (2.76%) Self-Motivation
11 19 (1.87%) Enterprise Cloud
11 19 (1.87%) Security Posture
12 14 (1.38%) Cyber Threat
12 14 (1.38%) Enterprise Software
12 14 (1.38%) Linux Command Line
13 13 (1.28%) Legacy Systems
14 11 (1.08%) Distributed Systems
14 11 (1.08%) Product Ownership
15 10 (0.99%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 444 (43.79%) Windows
2 231 (22.78%) Windows Server
3 181 (17.85%) Linux
4 46 (4.54%) Windows 10
5 44 (4.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 38 (3.75%) Windows Server 2019
7 35 (3.45%) Mac OS
8 27 (2.66%) Unix
9 20 (1.97%) Windows Server 2012
10 18 (1.78%) Ubuntu
11 17 (1.68%) Apple iOS
12 16 (1.58%) Android
13 15 (1.48%) VMS
14 14 (1.38%) CentOS
15 13 (1.28%) Windows Server 2016
16 6 (0.59%) Rocky
17 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2003
18 4 (0.39%) Windows 7
19 3 (0.30%) AIX
19 3 (0.30%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 227 (22.39%) Problem-Solving
2 220 (21.70%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 181 (17.85%) Load Balancing
4 175 (17.26%) ITIL
5 172 (16.96%) Migration
6 156 (15.38%) Infrastructure as Code
7 153 (15.09%) DevOps
8 145 (14.30%) CI/CD
9 142 (14.00%) High Availability
10 113 (11.14%) ITSM
11 95 (9.37%) Observability
12 90 (8.88%) Project Delivery
13 84 (8.28%) Agile
14 83 (8.19%) Cybersecurity
15 81 (7.99%) Continuous Improvement
16 78 (7.69%) Disaster Recovery
16 78 (7.69%) Identity Access Management
17 68 (6.71%) Containerisation
18 64 (6.31%) Service Management
19 63 (6.21%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 215 (21.20%) PowerShell
2 191 (18.84%) Python
3 135 (13.31%) Bash
4 54 (5.33%) SQL
5 40 (3.94%) Bicep
6 24 (2.37%) JavaScript
7 11 (1.08%) Go
8 10 (0.99%) ActionScript
8 10 (0.99%) Shell Script
9 9 (0.89%) Java
9 9 (0.89%) VBA
10 8 (0.79%) Perl
11 5 (0.49%) C
11 5 (0.49%) Groovy
11 5 (0.49%) Ruby
12 3 (0.30%) Kusto Query Language
12 3 (0.30%) Lisp
13 2 (0.20%) Jython
13 2 (0.20%) Objective-C
13 2 (0.20%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 359 (35.40%) Security Cleared
2 208 (20.51%) SC Cleared
3 145 (14.30%) DV Cleared
4 109 (10.75%) Cisco Certification
5 77 (7.59%) CCNP
6 75 (7.40%) Degree
7 54 (5.33%) CCNA
8 46 (4.54%) Microsoft Certification
9 39 (3.85%) Azure Certification
10 31 (3.06%) Network+ Certification
11 19 (1.87%) CCIE
12 18 (1.78%) BPSS Clearance
13 17 (1.68%) CISSP
13 17 (1.68%) MCSE
13 17 (1.68%) Server+ Certification
14 16 (1.58%) CompTIA Security+
15 12 (1.18%) AWS Certification
15 12 (1.18%) JNCIS
15 12 (1.18%) MCSA
16 11 (1.08%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (3.65%) SLA
2 29 (2.86%) NIST
3 17 (1.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 16 (1.58%) NCSC
5 8 (0.79%) GDPR
5 8 (0.79%) QA
6 5 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials
6 5 (0.49%) Disclosure Scotland
6 5 (0.49%) NIST 800
7 4 (0.39%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 3 (0.30%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.20%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.20%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.099%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.099%) COBIT
10 1 (0.099%) Data Quality
10 1 (0.099%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.099%) RMADS
System Software
1 415 (40.93%) Active Directory
2 231 (22.78%) VMware Infrastructure
3 106 (10.45%) Hyper-V
4 69 (6.80%) vSphere
5 65 (6.41%) VMware NSX
6 64 (6.31%) VMware ESXi
7 44 (4.34%) Docker
7 44 (4.34%) Virtual Machines
8 40 (3.94%) Virtual Desktop
9 25 (2.47%) Firmware
10 22 (2.17%) NFS
11 13 (1.28%) vCloud
12 10 (0.99%) BitLocker
12 10 (0.99%) Microsoft App-V
12 10 (0.99%) Squid
13 9 (0.89%) Postfix
14 8 (0.79%) VMware Workstation
15 6 (0.59%) Varnish
16 5 (0.49%) UAG
16 5 (0.49%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 192 (18.93%) Terraform
2 145 (14.30%) Ansible
3 112 (11.05%) Kubernetes
4 94 (9.27%) Microsoft Intune
5 62 (6.11%) vCenter Server
6 56 (5.52%) Single Sign-On
7 53 (5.23%) Grafana
7 53 (5.23%) SCCM
8 46 (4.54%) FortiGate
9 38 (3.75%) Prometheus
10 27 (2.66%) WSUS
11 26 (2.56%) SCOM
12 25 (2.47%) Argo
13 20 (1.97%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 15 (1.48%) Puppet
15 14 (1.38%) Nessus
16 13 (1.28%) Jamf Pro
17 11 (1.08%) vMotion
18 10 (0.99%) HAProxy
19 9 (0.89%) Packer
Vendors
1 342 (33.73%) Microsoft
2 280 (27.61%) VMware
3 194 (19.13%) Cisco
4 153 (15.09%) F5
5 89 (8.78%) ServiceNow
6 74 (7.30%) Splunk
7 67 (6.61%) Infoblox
8 65 (6.41%) Google
9 63 (6.21%) Citrix
9 63 (6.21%) SolarWinds
10 57 (5.62%) Juniper
11 50 (4.93%) Red Hat
12 46 (4.54%) Palo Alto
13 35 (3.45%) NetApp
14 31 (3.06%) Dynatrace
15 29 (2.86%) Blue Coat
15 29 (2.86%) Zscaler
16 27 (2.66%) Fortinet
17 26 (2.56%) CheckPoint
18 24 (2.37%) McAfee