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

6 months to
6 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 144 127 159
Rank change year-on-year -17 +32 -23
Contract jobs citing DNS 1,022 712 597
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.92% 2.16% 1.53%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 20.47% 17.99% 12.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 626 470 412
10th Percentile £288 £262 £250
25th Percentile £406 £400 £372
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £488
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +7.69% -2.50%
75th Percentile £586 £600 £588
90th Percentile £649 £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 31 15
10th Percentile £25.10 £29.00 £20.00
25th Percentile £31.25 £34.38 £23.45
Median hourly rate £55.38 £57.50 £24.20
Median % change year-on-year -3.70% +137.60% -39.50%
75th Percentile £74.00 £82.55 £39.38
90th Percentile £97.94 £89.63 £63.51
UK excluding London median hourly rate £58.49 £65.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year -10.01% +36.84% +82.69%

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 4,992 3,957 4,742
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.36% 12.02% 12.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,963 2,418 2,878
10th Percentile £250 £235 £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% +9.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 354 195 327
10th Percentile £16.00 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.34 £25.15 £18.27
Median hourly rate £26.66 £50.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -46.68% +5.26% -5.79%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.78 £83.60 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.66 £45.00 £54.88
% change year-on-year -40.76% -18.00% -4.42%

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 6 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 6 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 6 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 -11 924 £500 -4.76% 415
UK excluding London -11 628 £500 -4.76% 280
London -35 323 £495 -2.94% 171
Work from Home -27 238 £510 -2.86% 153
North of England +20 221 £460 -8.00% 65
South East +11 199 £538 -2.27% 88
North West +33 147 £450 -1.75% 38
Midlands -17 113 £450 -5.26% 39
West Midlands -23 93 £450 -5.26% 27
South West -7 83 £500 -13.98% 45
Yorkshire -28 64 £475 -13.64% 21
Scotland +18 35 £550 +22.22% 11
East of England -54 32 £450 -18.18% 31
East Midlands +2 18 £413 -26.67% 12
North East -39 10 £463 +13.50% 7
Wales -9 8 £463 +6.69% 3

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 98 (9.59%) Microsoft Exchange
2 84 (8.22%) SharePoint
3 25 (2.45%) Confluence
4 19 (1.86%) Apache
5 16 (1.57%) nginx
6 15 (1.47%) IIS
7 9 (0.88%) Tomcat
8 5 (0.49%) WebSphere
9 4 (0.39%) Exchange Server 2010
10 3 (0.29%) Exchange Server 2013
11 2 (0.20%) IBM HTTP Server
11 2 (0.20%) OpenStack
11 2 (0.20%) Oracle HTTP Server
11 2 (0.20%) WebSphere Application Server
11 2 (0.20%) WebSphere Portal
12 1 (0.098%) SharePoint Server
12 1 (0.098%) Traefik
Applications
1 21 (2.05%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.17%) MS Visio
3 8 (0.78%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.20%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.20%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.20%) Houdini
5 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.20%) NUKE
Business Applications
1 10 (0.98%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 399 (39.04%) Azure
2 208 (20.35%) AWS
3 170 (16.63%) Microsoft 365
4 168 (16.44%) Entra ID
5 111 (10.86%) GCP
6 74 (7.24%) GitHub
7 57 (5.58%) IaaS
8 53 (5.19%) OneDrive
9 45 (4.40%) Azure DevOps
10 42 (4.11%) PaaS
11 40 (3.91%) SaaS
12 39 (3.82%) Azure Monitor
13 31 (3.03%) GitHub Actions
13 31 (3.03%) OpenShift
14 28 (2.74%) AWS CloudFormation
14 28 (2.74%) Serverless
15 26 (2.54%) Google Kubernetes Engine
16 25 (2.45%) Amazon EC2
16 25 (2.45%) Azure ExpressRoute
17 24 (2.35%) Akamai
Communications & Networking
1 465 (45.50%) DHCP
2 373 (36.50%) Firewall
3 292 (28.57%) TCP/IP
4 277 (27.10%) VPN
5 137 (13.41%) WAN
6 128 (12.52%) Network Security
7 124 (12.13%) VLAN
8 117 (11.45%) LAN
9 107 (10.47%) SSL
10 105 (10.27%) BGP
11 81 (7.93%) BIG-IP
12 77 (7.53%) HTTP
13 70 (6.85%) Wireless
14 66 (6.46%) Wi-Fi
15 62 (6.07%) SAN
16 60 (5.87%) OSPF
17 51 (4.99%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
18 44 (4.31%) DMZ
19 43 (4.21%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
20 38 (3.72%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (4.99%) SQL Server
2 19 (1.86%) PostgreSQL
3 13 (1.27%) Elasticsearch
4 12 (1.17%) Azure SQL Database
5 10 (0.98%) MongoDB
5 10 (0.98%) Power BI
6 9 (0.88%) Amazon RDS
6 9 (0.88%) MySQL
7 6 (0.59%) Data Lake
8 5 (0.49%) MariaDB
8 5 (0.49%) NoSQL
9 4 (0.39%) Db2
9 4 (0.39%) Redis
10 3 (0.29%) Big Data
10 3 (0.29%) SQLPlus
11 1 (0.098%) Cloud Spanner
11 1 (0.098%) DynamoDB
11 1 (0.098%) KDB
11 1 (0.098%) Power Query
11 1 (0.098%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 74 (7.24%) JIRA
2 58 (5.68%) Jenkins
3 43 (4.21%) Git
4 31 (3.03%) GitLab
5 18 (1.76%) Fiddler
6 11 (1.08%) Bitbucket
7 10 (0.98%) Browser DevTools
8 8 (0.78%) Chocolatey
9 7 (0.68%) Sonatype Nexus
10 5 (0.49%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 2 (0.20%) Artifactory
11 2 (0.20%) Introscope
11 2 (0.20%) MSI
11 2 (0.20%) Selenium
11 2 (0.20%) SonarQube
11 2 (0.20%) Spinnaker
11 2 (0.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
12 1 (0.098%) Maven
12 1 (0.098%) Visual Studio
General
1 253 (24.76%) Social Skills
2 115 (11.25%) Analytical Skills
3 90 (8.81%) Finance
4 85 (8.32%) Public Sector
5 70 (6.85%) Banking
6 56 (5.48%) Documentation Skills
7 33 (3.23%) Investment Banking
7 33 (3.23%) Telecoms
8 22 (2.15%) Legal
9 21 (2.05%) Military
10 14 (1.37%) Organisational Skills
11 12 (1.17%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 12 (1.17%) Local Government
12 10 (0.98%) Police
13 7 (0.68%) Manufacturing
14 6 (0.59%) Influencing Skills
14 6 (0.59%) Publishing
15 5 (0.49%) Aerospace
15 5 (0.49%) Law
15 5 (0.49%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 189 (18.49%) Network Engineer
2 173 (16.93%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 116 (11.35%) Senior
4 96 (9.39%) Support Engineer
5 95 (9.30%) Architect
6 76 (7.44%) Cloud Engineer
7 61 (5.97%) Security Engineer
8 54 (5.28%) Analyst
9 52 (5.09%) IT Support
10 51 (4.99%) IT Engineer
11 43 (4.21%) Azure Engineer
12 42 (4.11%) Network Security Engineer
13 41 (4.01%) DevOps Engineer
14 40 (3.91%) Web Engineer
15 39 (3.82%) Administrator
15 39 (3.82%) Cisco Engineer
16 37 (3.62%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 37 (3.62%) Platform Engineer
16 37 (3.62%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
17 34 (3.33%) IT Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 52 (5.09%) 802.1X
2 40 (3.91%) SAML
3 30 (2.94%) LDAP
4 27 (2.64%) ARM Templates
5 26 (2.54%) OpenID
6 24 (2.35%) OAuth
7 17 (1.66%) OpenTelemetry
8 15 (1.47%) JSON
9 13 (1.27%) REST
9 13 (1.27%) YAML
10 10 (0.98%) Kafka
11 8 (0.78%) CSS
12 7 (0.68%) Middleware
12 7 (0.68%) OAuth2
13 5 (0.49%) Elastic Stack
13 5 (0.49%) RabbitMQ
14 4 (0.39%) HTML
14 4 (0.39%) RESTful
14 4 (0.39%) Software Packaging
14 4 (0.39%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 133 (13.01%) Data Centre
2 109 (10.67%) PKI
3 66 (6.46%) Onboarding
4 65 (6.36%) Hybrid Cloud
5 55 (5.38%) Cloud Native
6 50 (4.89%) Management Information System
7 45 (4.40%) Clustering
8 42 (4.11%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 26 (2.54%) Public Cloud
9 26 (2.54%) Self-Motivation
10 22 (2.15%) Replication
11 19 (1.86%) Enterprise Cloud
11 19 (1.86%) Security Posture
12 15 (1.47%) Cyber Threat
12 15 (1.47%) Enterprise Software
12 15 (1.47%) Linux Command Line
13 13 (1.27%) Distributed Systems
14 12 (1.17%) Driving Licence
14 12 (1.17%) Legacy Systems
15 10 (0.98%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 469 (45.89%) Windows
2 246 (24.07%) Windows Server
3 209 (20.45%) Linux
4 53 (5.19%) Windows 10
5 46 (4.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 40 (3.91%) Windows Server 2019
7 33 (3.23%) Mac OS
8 28 (2.74%) Unix
9 23 (2.25%) Windows Server 2012
10 20 (1.96%) Ubuntu
11 18 (1.76%) VMS
12 17 (1.66%) Apple iOS
13 15 (1.47%) Android
13 15 (1.47%) CentOS
14 14 (1.37%) Windows Server 2016
15 7 (0.68%) Rocky
15 7 (0.68%) Windows 7
15 7 (0.68%) Windows Server 2008
16 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2003
17 3 (0.29%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 235 (22.99%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 234 (22.90%) Problem-Solving
3 187 (18.30%) ITIL
4 181 (17.71%) Load Balancing
5 169 (16.54%) Infrastructure as Code
6 168 (16.44%) Migration
7 163 (15.95%) DevOps
8 150 (14.68%) CI/CD
9 142 (13.89%) High Availability
10 119 (11.64%) ITSM
11 100 (9.78%) Observability
12 97 (9.49%) Continuous Improvement
13 90 (8.81%) Agile
13 90 (8.81%) Cybersecurity
14 89 (8.71%) Project Delivery
15 84 (8.22%) Disaster Recovery
15 84 (8.22%) Identity Access Management
16 74 (7.24%) Technical Leadership
17 73 (7.14%) Platform Engineering
18 71 (6.95%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 230 (22.50%) PowerShell
2 206 (20.16%) Python
3 155 (15.17%) Bash
4 65 (6.36%) SQL
5 43 (4.21%) Bicep
6 24 (2.35%) JavaScript
7 14 (1.37%) Shell Script
8 12 (1.17%) Go
9 10 (0.98%) ActionScript
9 10 (0.98%) Perl
10 9 (0.88%) Java
11 7 (0.68%) VBA
12 6 (0.59%) Groovy
13 5 (0.49%) C
13 5 (0.49%) Ruby
14 4 (0.39%) TypeScript
15 3 (0.29%) Lisp
16 2 (0.20%) Jython
16 2 (0.20%) Kotlin
16 2 (0.20%) Objective-C
Qualifications
1 380 (37.18%) Security Cleared
2 218 (21.33%) SC Cleared
3 156 (15.26%) DV Cleared
4 112 (10.96%) Cisco Certification
5 79 (7.73%) Degree
6 77 (7.53%) CCNP
7 57 (5.58%) CCNA
8 51 (4.99%) Microsoft Certification
9 47 (4.60%) Azure Certification
10 32 (3.13%) Network+ Certification
11 19 (1.86%) Computer Science Degree
12 18 (1.76%) AWS Certification
12 18 (1.76%) BPSS Clearance
12 18 (1.76%) CCIE
13 17 (1.66%) CISSP
13 17 (1.66%) MCSE
13 17 (1.66%) Server+ Certification
14 15 (1.47%) CompTIA Security+
15 14 (1.37%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 13 (1.27%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (3.62%) SLA
2 28 (2.74%) NIST
3 19 (1.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 16 (1.57%) NCSC
5 11 (1.08%) 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 (0.20%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.20%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.098%) Data Quality
10 1 (0.098%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 428 (41.88%) Active Directory
2 252 (24.66%) VMware Infrastructure
3 126 (12.33%) Hyper-V
4 69 (6.75%) VMware ESXi
4 69 (6.75%) vSphere
5 63 (6.16%) VMware NSX
6 57 (5.58%) Docker
7 45 (4.40%) Virtual Machines
8 37 (3.62%) Virtual Desktop
9 25 (2.45%) Firmware
10 22 (2.15%) NFS
11 13 (1.27%) vCloud
12 11 (1.08%) Squid
13 10 (0.98%) Microsoft App-V
14 9 (0.88%) BitLocker
14 9 (0.88%) Postfix
15 8 (0.78%) Virtual Servers
15 8 (0.78%) VMware Workstation
16 7 (0.68%) Ceph
17 6 (0.59%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 207 (20.25%) Terraform
2 154 (15.07%) Ansible
3 119 (11.64%) Kubernetes
4 100 (9.78%) Microsoft Intune
5 64 (6.26%) SCCM
6 60 (5.87%) vCenter Server
7 59 (5.77%) Single Sign-On
8 56 (5.48%) Grafana
9 46 (4.50%) FortiGate
10 43 (4.21%) Prometheus
11 31 (3.03%) SCOM
12 30 (2.94%) WSUS
13 21 (2.05%) Argo
14 15 (1.47%) NetBackup
14 15 (1.47%) Puppet
15 14 (1.37%) Nessus
15 14 (1.37%) VxRail
16 13 (1.27%) Jamf Pro
17 12 (1.17%) Packer
18 11 (1.08%) vMotion
Vendors
1 355 (34.74%) Microsoft
2 307 (30.04%) VMware
3 200 (19.57%) Cisco
4 144 (14.09%) F5
5 91 (8.90%) ServiceNow
6 77 (7.53%) Splunk
7 69 (6.75%) SolarWinds
8 67 (6.56%) Citrix
9 64 (6.26%) Google
9 64 (6.26%) Infoblox
10 60 (5.87%) Juniper
11 50 (4.89%) Red Hat
12 44 (4.31%) Palo Alto
13 36 (3.52%) NetApp
14 35 (3.42%) Dynatrace
15 30 (2.94%) Zscaler
16 28 (2.74%) Blue Coat
17 27 (2.64%) Fortinet
18 26 (2.54%) CheckPoint
19 24 (2.35%) McAfee