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

6 months to
14 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 141 130 155
Rank change year-on-year -11 +25 -19
Contract jobs citing DNS 1,037 688 596
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.94% 2.09% 1.53%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.67% 17.64% 12.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 637 447 411
10th Percentile £289 £254 £242
25th Percentile £408 £398 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £488
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +7.69% -2.50%
75th Percentile £581 £600 £588
90th Percentile £645 £650 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 52 32 15
10th Percentile £26.07 £29.00 £20.00
25th Percentile £31.25 £37.06 £23.45
Median hourly rate £61.11 £61.25 £24.20
Median % change year-on-year -0.23% +153.10% -39.50%
75th Percentile £74.07 £82.33 £49.38
90th Percentile £98.44 £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 5,018 3,900 4,752
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.40% 11.85% 12.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,969 2,381 2,887
10th Percentile £250 £250 £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 +3.16% -5.00% +9.36%
Number of hourly rates quoted 365 202 321
10th Percentile £15.21 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £25.15 £20.00
Median hourly rate £26.14 £46.88 £49.00
Median % change year-on-year -44.23% -4.34% -9.26%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £82.03 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.14 £45.00 £54.88
% change year-on-year -41.91% -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 14 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 14 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 14 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 -8 943 £500 -4.76% 409
UK excluding London -3 644 £500 -4.76% 282
London -25 324 £500 -0.99% 168
Work from Home -15 239 £510 -3.64% 142
North of England +29 230 £465 -7.00% 63
South East +7 199 £538 -2.27% 96
North West +36 150 £474 +1.94% 36
Midlands -9 118 £450 -5.26% 38
West Midlands -23 97 £431 -9.21% 28
South West -3 87 £513 -12.77% 35
Yorkshire -10 67 £475 -13.64% 19
Scotland +15 34 £550 +20.22% 17
East of England -53 31 £450 -18.18% 33
East Midlands -9 19 £413 -25.00% 10
North East -39 13 £319 -21.78% 9
Wales -13 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
1 104 (10.03%) Microsoft Exchange
2 90 (8.68%) SharePoint
3 24 (2.31%) Confluence
4 19 (1.83%) Apache
5 16 (1.54%) IIS
6 14 (1.35%) nginx
7 9 (0.87%) Tomcat
8 6 (0.58%) Skype for Business
9 5 (0.48%) WebSphere
10 4 (0.39%) 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 (2.51%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.16%) MS Visio
3 9 (0.87%) 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
1 416 (40.12%) Azure
2 215 (20.73%) AWS
3 181 (17.45%) Entra ID
4 179 (17.26%) Microsoft 365
5 114 (10.99%) GCP
6 76 (7.33%) GitHub
7 59 (5.69%) IaaS
8 55 (5.30%) OneDrive
9 44 (4.24%) Azure DevOps
10 41 (3.95%) PaaS
11 40 (3.86%) SaaS
12 39 (3.76%) Azure Monitor
13 36 (3.47%) GitHub Actions
14 31 (2.99%) OpenShift
15 29 (2.80%) Google Kubernetes Engine
16 28 (2.70%) AWS CloudFormation
17 27 (2.60%) Serverless
18 25 (2.41%) Akamai
18 25 (2.41%) Azure ExpressRoute
19 24 (2.31%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 482 (46.48%) DHCP
2 374 (36.07%) Firewall
3 287 (27.68%) TCP/IP
4 285 (27.48%) VPN
5 142 (13.69%) WAN
6 129 (12.44%) VLAN
7 127 (12.25%) Network Security
8 121 (11.67%) LAN
9 104 (10.03%) SSL
10 103 (9.93%) BGP
11 82 (7.91%) BIG-IP
12 74 (7.14%) HTTP
13 72 (6.94%) Wi-Fi
14 71 (6.85%) Wireless
15 63 (6.08%) SAN
16 59 (5.69%) OSPF
17 54 (5.21%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
18 47 (4.53%) DMZ
18 47 (4.53%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
19 38 (3.66%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 54 (5.21%) SQL Server
2 20 (1.93%) PostgreSQL
3 12 (1.16%) Azure SQL Database
4 10 (0.96%) Elasticsearch
4 10 (0.96%) MongoDB
4 10 (0.96%) Power BI
5 9 (0.87%) Amazon RDS
5 9 (0.87%) MySQL
6 6 (0.58%) Data Lake
7 5 (0.48%) MariaDB
7 5 (0.48%) NoSQL
8 4 (0.39%) Db2
8 4 (0.39%) Redis
9 3 (0.29%) Big Data
9 3 (0.29%) SQLPlus
10 1 (0.096%) BigQuery
10 1 (0.096%) Cloud Spanner
10 1 (0.096%) DynamoDB
10 1 (0.096%) Flink
10 1 (0.096%) KDB
Development Applications
1 73 (7.04%) JIRA
2 58 (5.59%) Jenkins
3 45 (4.34%) Git
4 33 (3.18%) GitLab
5 17 (1.64%) Fiddler
6 12 (1.16%) Bitbucket
7 10 (0.96%) Browser DevTools
8 8 (0.77%) Chocolatey
9 7 (0.68%) 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
1 262 (25.27%) Social Skills
2 122 (11.76%) Analytical Skills
3 93 (8.97%) Finance
4 84 (8.10%) Public Sector
5 72 (6.94%) Banking
6 56 (5.40%) Documentation Skills
7 33 (3.18%) Investment Banking
7 33 (3.18%) Telecoms
8 26 (2.51%) Legal
9 15 (1.45%) Military
10 13 (1.25%) Organisational Skills
11 12 (1.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 11 (1.06%) Local Government
12 11 (1.06%) Police
13 9 (0.87%) Manufacturing
14 8 (0.77%) Pharmaceutical
15 6 (0.58%) Aerospace
15 6 (0.58%) Influencing Skills
15 6 (0.58%) Law
15 6 (0.58%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 186 (17.94%) Network Engineer
2 178 (17.16%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 120 (11.57%) Senior
4 98 (9.45%) Support Engineer
5 90 (8.68%) Architect
6 76 (7.33%) Cloud Engineer
7 58 (5.59%) Security Engineer
8 54 (5.21%) Analyst
9 50 (4.82%) IT Support
10 49 (4.73%) IT Engineer
11 44 (4.24%) Azure Engineer
12 41 (3.95%) Platform Engineer
13 40 (3.86%) DevOps Engineer
14 39 (3.76%) Cisco Engineer
14 39 (3.76%) Network Security Engineer
14 39 (3.76%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 39 (3.76%) Web Engineer
15 38 (3.66%) Administrator
16 37 (3.57%) Cisco Network Engineer
17 34 (3.28%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (4.82%) 802.1X
2 45 (4.34%) SAML
3 29 (2.80%) OAuth
4 28 (2.70%) OpenID
5 26 (2.51%) ARM Templates
5 26 (2.51%) LDAP
6 19 (1.83%) JSON
7 17 (1.64%) OpenTelemetry
7 17 (1.64%) REST
8 14 (1.35%) Kafka
9 13 (1.25%) YAML
10 10 (0.96%) OAuth2
11 7 (0.68%) CSS
11 7 (0.68%) Middleware
11 7 (0.68%) 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 (0.39%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 134 (12.92%) Data Centre
2 111 (10.70%) PKI
3 69 (6.65%) Onboarding
4 66 (6.36%) Hybrid Cloud
5 53 (5.11%) Cloud Native
5 53 (5.11%) Management Information System
6 44 (4.24%) Clustering
7 42 (4.05%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 27 (2.60%) Public Cloud
9 25 (2.41%) Self-Motivation
10 24 (2.31%) Replication
11 19 (1.83%) Enterprise Cloud
12 17 (1.64%) Enterprise Software
12 17 (1.64%) Linux Command Line
13 16 (1.54%) Security Posture
14 15 (1.45%) Cyber Threat
15 14 (1.35%) Distributed Systems
15 14 (1.35%) Driving Licence
16 10 (0.96%) CMDB
16 10 (0.96%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 481 (46.38%) Windows
2 258 (24.88%) Windows Server
3 212 (20.44%) Linux
4 59 (5.69%) Windows 10
5 47 (4.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 41 (3.95%) Windows Server 2019
7 32 (3.09%) Mac OS
8 28 (2.70%) Unix
9 25 (2.41%) Windows Server 2012
10 20 (1.93%) Ubuntu
11 18 (1.74%) VMS
12 17 (1.64%) Apple iOS
13 15 (1.45%) Android
13 15 (1.45%) CentOS
13 15 (1.45%) Windows Server 2016
14 13 (1.25%) Windows 7
15 8 (0.77%) Windows Server 2008
16 7 (0.68%) Rocky
17 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2003
18 3 (0.29%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 242 (23.34%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 235 (22.66%) Problem-Solving
3 189 (18.23%) ITIL
4 184 (17.74%) Load Balancing
5 177 (17.07%) Infrastructure as Code
6 172 (16.59%) Migration
7 163 (15.72%) DevOps
8 155 (14.95%) CI/CD
9 141 (13.60%) High Availability
10 131 (12.63%) ITSM
11 103 (9.93%) Observability
12 101 (9.74%) Continuous Improvement
13 94 (9.06%) Cybersecurity
14 90 (8.68%) Agile
15 89 (8.58%) Disaster Recovery
15 89 (8.58%) Project Delivery
16 82 (7.91%) Identity Access Management
16 82 (7.91%) Technical Leadership
17 79 (7.62%) Platform Engineering
18 76 (7.33%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 251 (24.20%) PowerShell
2 213 (20.54%) Python
3 156 (15.04%) Bash
4 69 (6.65%) SQL
5 44 (4.24%) Bicep
6 25 (2.41%) JavaScript
7 15 (1.45%) Shell Script
8 12 (1.16%) Go
9 10 (0.96%) ActionScript
9 10 (0.96%) Java
9 10 (0.96%) Perl
10 8 (0.77%) VBScript
11 7 (0.68%) 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
1 382 (36.84%) Security Cleared
2 217 (20.93%) SC Cleared
3 157 (15.14%) DV Cleared
4 109 (10.51%) Cisco Certification
5 82 (7.91%) Degree
6 74 (7.14%) CCNP
7 54 (5.21%) CCNA
8 50 (4.82%) Microsoft Certification
9 48 (4.63%) Azure Certification
10 31 (2.99%) Network+ Certification
11 22 (2.12%) Computer Science Degree
12 19 (1.83%) AWS Certification
13 18 (1.74%) CCIE
14 17 (1.64%) BPSS Clearance
15 15 (1.45%) Server+ Certification
15 15 (1.45%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 14 (1.35%) MCSE
17 13 (1.25%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
17 13 (1.25%) JNCIS
18 12 (1.16%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (3.76%) SLA
2 26 (2.51%) NIST
3 16 (1.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 16 (1.54%) NCSC
4 13 (1.25%) QA
5 8 (0.77%) GDPR
6 5 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials
6 5 (0.48%) Disclosure Scotland
6 5 (0.48%) NIST 800
7 4 (0.39%) HMG Security Policy Framework
7 4 (0.39%) JSP 440
8 2 (0.19%) Data Quality
8 2 (0.19%) Government Security Classifications
8 2 (0.19%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.19%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.096%) HIPAA
9 1 (0.096%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 436 (42.04%) Active Directory
2 270 (26.04%) VMware Infrastructure
3 126 (12.15%) Hyper-V
4 71 (6.85%) VMware ESXi
4 71 (6.85%) vSphere
5 66 (6.36%) VMware NSX
6 55 (5.30%) Docker
7 43 (4.15%) Virtual Machines
8 38 (3.66%) Virtual Desktop
9 25 (2.41%) Firmware
10 22 (2.12%) NFS
11 14 (1.35%) BitLocker
11 14 (1.35%) vCloud
12 9 (0.87%) Microsoft App-V
12 9 (0.87%) Postfix
12 9 (0.87%) Squid
13 8 (0.77%) Virtual Servers
13 8 (0.77%) VMware Workstation
14 7 (0.68%) Ceph
15 6 (0.58%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 216 (20.83%) Terraform
2 156 (15.04%) Ansible
3 124 (11.96%) Kubernetes
4 106 (10.22%) Microsoft Intune
5 78 (7.52%) SCCM
6 60 (5.79%) Single Sign-On
7 59 (5.69%) vCenter Server
8 55 (5.30%) Grafana
9 43 (4.15%) FortiGate
10 42 (4.05%) Prometheus
11 32 (3.09%) SCOM
11 32 (3.09%) WSUS
12 19 (1.83%) Argo
13 16 (1.54%) VxRail
14 15 (1.45%) NetBackup
15 14 (1.35%) Jamf Pro
15 14 (1.35%) Puppet
16 12 (1.16%) Istio
16 12 (1.16%) Packer
17 11 (1.06%) vMotion
Vendors
1 372 (35.87%) Microsoft
2 327 (31.53%) VMware
3 197 (19.00%) Cisco
4 144 (13.89%) F5
5 93 (8.97%) ServiceNow
6 69 (6.65%) Citrix
7 68 (6.56%) SolarWinds
7 68 (6.56%) Splunk
8 65 (6.27%) Google
9 63 (6.08%) Infoblox
10 58 (5.59%) Juniper
11 46 (4.44%) Red Hat
12 43 (4.15%) Palo Alto
13 36 (3.47%) Dynatrace
14 35 (3.38%) NetApp
15 28 (2.70%) Fortinet
16 27 (2.60%) CheckPoint
16 27 (2.60%) Zscaler
17 26 (2.51%) Blue Coat
17 26 (2.51%) CyberArk