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

6 months to
31 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 133 117 155
Rank change year-on-year -16 +38 -21
Contract jobs citing DNS 959 677 663
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.95% 2.33% 1.55%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.06% 18.42% 12.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 597 479 457
10th Percentile £281 £297 £213
25th Percentile £400 £406 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £475
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +15.79% -9.52%
75th Percentile £588 £613 £598
90th Percentile £638 £675 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £550 £500
% change year-on-year -12.73% +10.00% -0.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 12 23
10th Percentile £21.25 - £18.80
25th Percentile £26.00 £29.00 £23.53
Median hourly rate £35.22 £69.09 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -49.02% +72.72% -23.27%
75th Percentile £74.00 £81.35 -
90th Percentile £74.26 £82.03 £51.27
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.22 £80.68 £40.00
% change year-on-year -56.34% +101.69% -18.56%

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 4,781 3,676 5,430
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.73% 12.63% 12.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,932 2,279 3,247
10th Percentile £263 £220 £206
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -2.44%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £465 £477
% change year-on-year +2.15% -2.52% +0.42%
Number of hourly rates quoted 282 160 413
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.67 £16.30
Median hourly rate £28.96 £40.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -28.49% +1.25% +116.22%
75th Percentile £65.00 £59.09 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.93 £80.10 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £30.70 £45.88
% change year-on-year +5.86% -33.09% +151.88%

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 31 May 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 31 May 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 31 May 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 -18 839 £500 -9.09% 285
UK excluding London -6 613 £480 -12.73% 256
London -39 268 £500 -4.76% 71
North of England +8 238 £447 -5.89% 52
Work from Home -28 209 £525 -3.67% 113
South East -3 168 £525 -4.55% 101
North West +37 158 £450 +5.88% 34
Midlands +16 113 £425 -21.66% 30
West Midlands +15 100 £438 - 17
Yorkshire -27 74 £447 -18.73% 14
South West -33 58 £500 -18.70% 33
Scotland +37 52 £550 +22.22% 8
East of England -45 41 £450 -18.18% 28
East Midlands -25 12 £394 -30.62% 13
Wales -19 6 £300 -33.33% 11
North East -29 6 £306 -12.50% 6

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 86 (8.97%) Microsoft Exchange
2 54 (5.63%) SharePoint
3 20 (2.09%) Confluence
4 17 (1.77%) nginx
5 16 (1.67%) IIS
6 14 (1.46%) Apache
7 9 (0.94%) Tomcat
8 5 (0.52%) WebSphere
9 4 (0.42%) Skype for Business
10 2 (0.21%) Exchange Server 2013
10 2 (0.21%) IBM HTTP Server
10 2 (0.21%) Oracle HTTP Server
10 2 (0.21%) WebSphere Application Server
10 2 (0.21%) WebSphere Portal
11 1 (0.10%) Exchange Server 2010
11 1 (0.10%) Traefik
Applications
1 18 (1.88%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (1.67%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.21%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.10%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.10%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 4 (0.42%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.10%) Cloudability
Cloud Services
1 335 (34.93%) Azure
2 180 (18.77%) AWS
3 153 (15.95%) Entra ID
4 130 (13.56%) Microsoft 365
5 101 (10.53%) GCP
6 74 (7.72%) GitHub
7 57 (5.94%) IaaS
8 43 (4.48%) PaaS
9 40 (4.17%) SaaS
10 34 (3.55%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 33 (3.44%) Amazon EC2
11 33 (3.44%) Amazon S3
11 33 (3.44%) GitHub Actions
11 33 (3.44%) Serverless
12 32 (3.34%) AWS CloudFormation
12 32 (3.34%) OneDrive
13 30 (3.13%) Amazon EKS
13 30 (3.13%) AWS Lambda
14 28 (2.92%) Route 53
15 25 (2.61%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 418 (43.59%) DHCP
2 291 (30.34%) Firewall
3 237 (24.71%) TCP/IP
4 231 (24.09%) VPN
5 130 (13.56%) WAN
6 117 (12.20%) LAN
7 111 (11.57%) SSL
8 103 (10.74%) Network Security
9 96 (10.01%) BIG-IP
10 93 (9.70%) VLAN
11 85 (8.86%) BGP
11 85 (8.86%) HTTP
12 58 (6.05%) Wi-Fi
13 55 (5.74%) Wireless
14 54 (5.63%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
15 48 (5.01%) OSPF
15 48 (5.01%) SAN
16 41 (4.28%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
16 41 (4.28%) Kerberos
17 39 (4.07%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (4.17%) SQL Server
2 20 (2.09%) Elasticsearch
3 19 (1.98%) PostgreSQL
4 9 (0.94%) Amazon RDS
4 9 (0.94%) MongoDB
5 8 (0.83%) MySQL
5 8 (0.83%) Power BI
6 6 (0.63%) Azure SQL Database
6 6 (0.63%) NoSQL
7 5 (0.52%) DynamoDB
8 4 (0.42%) Amazon Aurora
8 4 (0.42%) DocumentDB
8 4 (0.42%) MariaDB
8 4 (0.42%) Redis
9 3 (0.31%) Data Hub
10 2 (0.21%) SQLPlus
11 1 (0.10%) Oracle Reports
11 1 (0.10%) Relational Database
11 1 (0.10%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 1 (0.10%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 65 (6.78%) JIRA
2 62 (6.47%) Jenkins
3 37 (3.86%) Git
4 32 (3.34%) GitLab
5 26 (2.71%) Fiddler
6 9 (0.94%) Browser DevTools
7 7 (0.73%) Bitbucket
7 7 (0.73%) SonarQube
8 6 (0.63%) Chocolatey
9 4 (0.42%) CircleCI
9 4 (0.42%) Terragrunt
10 3 (0.31%) Sonatype Nexus
11 2 (0.21%) Introscope
12 1 (0.10%) Artifactory
12 1 (0.10%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.10%) Spinnaker
12 1 (0.10%) Travis CI
General
1 215 (22.42%) Social Skills
2 93 (9.70%) Analytical Skills
3 74 (7.72%) Banking
3 74 (7.72%) Finance
4 65 (6.78%) Public Sector
5 49 (5.11%) Documentation Skills
6 37 (3.86%) Investment Banking
7 27 (2.82%) Legal
8 18 (1.88%) Military
9 14 (1.46%) Telecoms
10 11 (1.15%) Organisational Skills
11 9 (0.94%) Law
12 7 (0.73%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 5 (0.52%) Local Government
13 5 (0.52%) Manufacturing
13 5 (0.52%) Police
14 4 (0.42%) Advertising
14 4 (0.42%) Financial Institution
14 4 (0.42%) Italian Language
15 3 (0.31%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 174 (18.14%) Network Engineer
2 127 (13.24%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 117 (12.20%) Architect
4 85 (8.86%) Analyst
5 71 (7.40%) Senior
6 64 (6.67%) Security Engineer
7 57 (5.94%) Support Engineer
8 49 (5.11%) Web Engineer
9 44 (4.59%) IT Support
10 43 (4.48%) Cloud Engineer
11 42 (4.38%) Network Security Engineer
12 36 (3.75%) Cisco Engineer
12 36 (3.75%) IT Engineer
12 36 (3.75%) Lead
13 34 (3.55%) Cisco Network Engineer
14 33 (3.44%) Administrator
14 33 (3.44%) Data Engineer
14 33 (3.44%) Data Network Engineer
15 32 (3.34%) Azure Engineer
15 32 (3.34%) Cisco Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (7.30%) LDAP
2 57 (5.94%) SAML
3 43 (4.48%) OAuth
4 40 (4.17%) 802.1X
5 32 (3.34%) OpenID
6 20 (2.09%) OpenTelemetry
7 16 (1.67%) JSON
8 12 (1.25%) ARM Templates
9 10 (1.04%) Kafka
9 10 (1.04%) OAuth2
9 10 (1.04%) REST
10 8 (0.83%) Elastic Stack
11 5 (0.52%) Microsoft Graph
11 5 (0.52%) XMPP
11 5 (0.52%) YAML
12 4 (0.42%) AWS CDK
12 4 (0.42%) Hibernate
12 4 (0.42%) JPA
12 4 (0.42%) Spring
12 4 (0.42%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 97 (10.11%) Data Centre
2 72 (7.51%) PKI
3 55 (5.74%) Cloud Native
4 52 (5.42%) Onboarding
5 42 (4.38%) Management Information System
5 42 (4.38%) Replication
6 39 (4.07%) Clustering
7 36 (3.75%) Public Cloud
8 33 (3.44%) Hybrid Cloud
9 29 (3.02%) Security Operations Centre
10 28 (2.92%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 26 (2.71%) Cyberattack
12 21 (2.19%) Self-Motivation
13 19 (1.98%) Cyber Threat
14 15 (1.56%) Enterprise Cloud
15 14 (1.46%) Enterprise Software
16 13 (1.36%) Legacy Systems
16 13 (1.36%) Security Posture
17 12 (1.25%) Analytical Mindset
17 12 (1.25%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 408 (42.54%) Windows
2 225 (23.46%) Windows Server
3 145 (15.12%) Linux
4 44 (4.59%) Windows 10
5 41 (4.28%) Windows Server 2019
6 28 (2.92%) Mac OS
6 28 (2.92%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 26 (2.71%) Unix
8 19 (1.98%) Windows Server 2012
9 18 (1.88%) Apple iOS
10 16 (1.67%) Android
11 15 (1.56%) Windows Server 2016
12 11 (1.15%) VMS
13 9 (0.94%) CentOS
13 9 (0.94%) Ubuntu
14 8 (0.83%) Windows Server 2003
15 7 (0.73%) Windows 7
16 4 (0.42%) CatOS
17 3 (0.31%) AIX
17 3 (0.31%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 198 (20.65%) Problem-Solving
2 175 (18.25%) Load Balancing
3 160 (16.68%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 157 (16.37%) Migration
5 146 (15.22%) High Availability
6 134 (13.97%) ITIL
7 133 (13.87%) DevOps
8 122 (12.72%) Infrastructure as Code
9 120 (12.51%) CI/CD
10 90 (9.38%) ITSM
11 89 (9.28%) Disaster Recovery
12 87 (9.07%) Cybersecurity
13 83 (8.65%) Observability
14 81 (8.45%) Identity Access Management
15 75 (7.82%) Agile
16 68 (7.09%) Project Delivery
17 67 (6.99%) SIEM
18 66 (6.88%) Runbook
19 63 (6.57%) Root Cause Analysis
20 60 (6.26%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 192 (20.02%) PowerShell
2 153 (15.95%) Python
3 90 (9.38%) Bash
4 53 (5.53%) SQL
5 26 (2.71%) Bicep
6 25 (2.61%) JavaScript
7 16 (1.67%) Java
8 12 (1.25%) Go
9 11 (1.15%) Shell Script
10 9 (0.94%) Ruby
10 9 (0.94%) VBA
11 7 (0.73%) ActionScript
11 7 (0.73%) Perl
12 6 (0.63%) VBScript
13 5 (0.52%) Groovy
14 4 (0.42%) C
14 4 (0.42%) VB
15 3 (0.31%) Lisp
16 2 (0.21%) Jython
16 2 (0.21%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 317 (33.06%) Security Cleared
2 207 (21.58%) SC Cleared
3 112 (11.68%) DV Cleared
4 86 (8.97%) Cisco Certification
5 72 (7.51%) Degree
6 55 (5.74%) CCNP
7 45 (4.69%) CCNA
8 31 (3.23%) CompTIA Security+
9 29 (3.02%) Microsoft Certification
10 28 (2.92%) Network+ Certification
11 27 (2.82%) Azure Certification
12 21 (2.19%) Computer Science Degree
13 17 (1.77%) CompTIA CySA+
13 17 (1.77%) Server+ Certification
14 15 (1.56%) BPSS Clearance
15 12 (1.25%) AWS Certification
16 11 (1.15%) CISSP
16 11 (1.15%) JNCIA
17 10 (1.04%) JNCIS
18 9 (0.94%) CCIE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (3.44%) SLA
2 28 (2.92%) NIST
3 23 (2.40%) GDPR
4 19 (1.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 16 (1.67%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 11 (1.15%) QA
7 7 (0.73%) NCSC
8 4 (0.42%) Cyber Essentials
8 4 (0.42%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 4 (0.42%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.21%) Accessibility
9 2 (0.21%) Data Quality
9 2 (0.21%) Disclosure Scotland
9 2 (0.21%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.21%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.21%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.10%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.10%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.10%) PMO
10 1 (0.10%) RMADS
System Software
1 382 (39.83%) Active Directory
2 208 (21.69%) VMware Infrastructure
3 98 (10.22%) Hyper-V
4 58 (6.05%) VMware NSX
5 55 (5.74%) vSphere
6 42 (4.38%) Docker
7 39 (4.07%) VMware ESXi
8 36 (3.75%) Virtual Machines
9 26 (2.71%) Virtual Desktop
10 25 (2.61%) Firmware
11 16 (1.67%) NFS
12 15 (1.56%) Squid
13 14 (1.46%) BitLocker
14 10 (1.04%) Microsoft App-V
14 10 (1.04%) Postfix
15 9 (0.94%) vCloud
16 8 (0.83%) VMware Workstation
17 7 (0.73%) Varnish
18 5 (0.52%) Ceph
19 4 (0.42%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 150 (15.64%) Terraform
2 122 (12.72%) Ansible
3 94 (9.80%) Kubernetes
4 80 (8.34%) Microsoft Intune
5 78 (8.13%) Single Sign-On
6 51 (5.32%) FortiGate
7 48 (5.01%) Grafana
8 47 (4.90%) SCCM
9 45 (4.69%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 43 (4.48%) vCenter Server
11 31 (3.23%) Prometheus
12 27 (2.82%) WSUS
13 22 (2.29%) Argo
14 17 (1.77%) SCOM
15 14 (1.46%) HAProxy
16 12 (1.25%) Puppet
17 11 (1.15%) Nessus
18 9 (0.94%) Jamf Pro
18 9 (0.94%) vMotion
19 8 (0.83%) Consul
Vendors
1 296 (30.87%) Microsoft
2 248 (25.86%) VMware
3 171 (17.83%) Cisco
4 160 (16.68%) F5
5 89 (9.28%) ServiceNow
6 86 (8.97%) Splunk
7 55 (5.74%) Infoblox
8 54 (5.63%) Citrix
9 51 (5.32%) SolarWinds
10 45 (4.69%) Juniper
10 45 (4.69%) Red Hat
11 43 (4.48%) Google
12 34 (3.55%) Palo Alto
13 33 (3.44%) Blue Coat
14 32 (3.34%) NetApp
15 29 (3.02%) McAfee
16 27 (2.82%) Dynatrace
17 26 (2.71%) Okta
18 23 (2.40%) CheckPoint
19 22 (2.29%) Extreme Networks