DNS Contracts

Domain Name System (DNS)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring DNS skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited DNS over the 6 months leading up to 18 June 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Jun 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 124 159 139
Rank change year-on-year +35 -20 +16
Contract jobs citing DNS 677 664 1,045
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 2.27% 1.51% 1.88%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 17.94% 12.22% 14.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 476 452 734
10th Percentile £263 £213 £250
25th Percentile £406 £359 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £543 £475 £525
Median % change year-on-year +14.21% -9.52% +5.00%
75th Percentile £611 £588 £625
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £500 £514
% change year-on-year +10.00% -2.68% +14.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 25 14
10th Percentile - £19.10 £19.78
25th Percentile £29.00 £23.80 £29.31
Median hourly rate £54.50 £40.00 £59.07
Median % change year-on-year +36.25% -32.28% +165.46%
75th Percentile £81.18 - £84.50
90th Percentile £81.80 £50.64 £87.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.50 £40.00 £52.13
% change year-on-year +3.75% -23.27% +142.47%

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 3,773 5,432 7,102
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 12.65% 12.38% 12.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,288 3,212 4,591
10th Percentile £220 £210 £243
25th Percentile £363 £350 £393
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% -1.96% +2.00%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £627
90th Percentile £675 £688 £719
UK excluding London median daily rate £470 £488 £475
% change year-on-year -3.59% +2.63% +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 181 422 445
10th Percentile £14.20 £13.50 £9.80
25th Percentile £17.30 £17.69 £10.63
Median hourly rate £40.00 £40.00 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year - +110.53% -31.84%
75th Percentile £60.13 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £71.19 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.00 £47.50 £18.97
% change year-on-year -36.84% +150.46% -11.79%

DNS
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing DNS as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for DNS in the UK

DNS
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing DNS.

Daily rate trend for DNS in the UK

DNS
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing DNS over the 6 months to 18 June 2025.

Daily rate histogram for DNS in the UK

DNS
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing DNS.

Hourly rate trend for DNS in the UK

DNS
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing DNS over the 6 months to 18 June 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for DNS in the UK

DNS
Top 18 Contract 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 18 June 2025. 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 +38 609 £550 +12.82% 3,451
UK excluding London +26 365 £550 +10.00% 2,842
London +38 244 £500 +11.11% 943
Work from Home +32 192 £539 +10.56% 1,265
North of England +53 99 £500 - 645
South East -1 77 £550 +8.64% 743
East of England +78 69 £550 +89.66% 407
South West +41 59 £615 +14.42% 343
Yorkshire +33 44 £550 -8.33% 262
North West +24 43 £450 +12.50% 345
Midlands -27 40 £475 -2.56% 450
West Midlands -31 27 £475 -9.52% 243
East Midlands +8 13 £555 +48.00% 202
North East +12 12 £350 -37.78% 40
Scotland -15 10 £450 +87.50% 149
Wales +12 8 £446 +4.94% 83
Northern Ireland -3 5 £160 - 44
Channel Islands - 1 £440 -

DNS
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 83 (12.26%) Microsoft Exchange
2 44 (6.50%) SharePoint
3 39 (5.76%) Confluence
4 21 (3.10%) IIS
5 16 (2.36%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 15 (2.22%) Skype for Business
7 12 (1.77%) Apache
8 10 (1.48%) OpenStack
9 7 (1.03%) SharePoint Server
10 5 (0.74%) Exchange Server 2003
10 5 (0.74%) Exchange Server 2007
10 5 (0.74%) Exchange Server 2010
10 5 (0.74%) Exchange Server 2013
10 5 (0.74%) Office Communications Server
11 4 (0.59%) CMS
12 3 (0.44%) WordPress
13 1 (0.15%) nginx
13 1 (0.15%) SAS
13 1 (0.15%) Tomcat
Applications
1 70 (10.34%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (1.33%) MS Visio
3 5 (0.74%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.44%) Trello
5 2 (0.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 3 (0.44%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.15%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.15%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 226 (33.38%) Azure
2 185 (27.33%) AWS
3 89 (13.15%) Microsoft 365
4 64 (9.45%) Entra ID
5 61 (9.01%) IaaS
6 57 (8.42%) AWS CloudFormation
7 54 (7.98%) GCP
8 52 (7.68%) GitHub
9 43 (6.35%) PaaS
10 33 (4.87%) Amazon EC2
11 30 (4.43%) OpenShift
12 29 (4.28%) SaaS
13 23 (3.40%) Amazon EKS
13 23 (3.40%) Cohesity
14 21 (3.10%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 20 (2.95%) GitHub Actions
16 18 (2.66%) Amazon S3
16 18 (2.66%) Azure DevOps
16 18 (2.66%) Virtual Private Cloud
17 17 (2.51%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 343 (50.66%) DHCP
2 244 (36.04%) Firewall
3 194 (28.66%) TCP/IP
4 164 (24.22%) VPN
5 89 (13.15%) HTTP
6 78 (11.52%) WAN
7 71 (10.49%) Network Security
8 67 (9.90%) BGP
9 66 (9.75%) LAN
10 61 (9.01%) OSPF
10 61 (9.01%) VLAN
11 58 (8.57%) SMTP
12 56 (8.27%) SAN
13 52 (7.68%) SSL
14 51 (7.53%) Wireless
15 33 (4.87%) IPsec
16 30 (4.43%) FTP
17 29 (4.28%) MPLS
18 28 (4.14%) SD-WAN
18 28 (4.14%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 41 (6.06%) Amazon RDS
2 29 (4.28%) SQL Server
3 18 (2.66%) Oracle Database
4 13 (1.92%) Elasticsearch
5 12 (1.77%) Big Data
6 10 (1.48%) Amazon Aurora
7 7 (1.03%) DynamoDB
8 5 (0.74%) MongoDB
9 4 (0.59%) Power BI
10 3 (0.44%) Hadoop
10 3 (0.44%) NoSQL
10 3 (0.44%) PostgreSQL
11 2 (0.30%) Azure SQL Database
11 2 (0.30%) GIS
11 2 (0.30%) MariaDB
12 1 (0.15%) Apache Cassandra
12 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Analysis Services
12 1 (0.15%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 1 (0.15%) Sybase ASE
12 1 (0.15%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 63 (9.31%) JIRA
2 54 (7.98%) Jenkins
3 42 (6.20%) Git
4 23 (3.40%) GitLab
5 16 (2.36%) TeamCity
6 15 (2.22%) Sonatype Nexus
7 10 (1.48%) Subversion
8 7 (1.03%) Bitbucket
9 6 (0.89%) Visual Studio Code
10 4 (0.59%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 4 (0.59%) Vagrant
11 3 (0.44%) Browser DevTools
11 3 (0.44%) Oracle APEX
11 3 (0.44%) SonarQube
11 3 (0.44%) Vite
11 3 (0.44%) webpack
12 2 (0.30%) Maven
13 1 (0.15%) Artifactory
General
1 170 (25.11%) Social Skills
2 89 (13.15%) Finance
3 55 (8.12%) Analytical Skills
4 54 (7.98%) Public Sector
5 30 (4.43%) Banking
6 18 (2.66%) Telecoms
7 15 (2.22%) Documentation Skills
7 15 (2.22%) Manufacturing
8 12 (1.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 11 (1.62%) Legal
10 8 (1.18%) Investment Banking
10 8 (1.18%) Law
11 7 (1.03%) Military
11 7 (1.03%) Organisational Skills
12 6 (0.89%) Local Government
12 6 (0.89%) Marketing
12 6 (0.89%) Spanish Language
13 5 (0.74%) Electronics
13 5 (0.74%) French Language
14 4 (0.59%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 111 (16.40%) Network Engineer
2 97 (14.33%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 80 (11.82%) Support Engineer
4 66 (9.75%) Architect
5 49 (7.24%) Azure Engineer
6 46 (6.79%) Senior
7 43 (6.35%) Analyst
8 39 (5.76%) DevOps Engineer
9 37 (5.47%) Administrator
10 24 (3.55%) Technical Architect
11 23 (3.40%) Cloud Architect
12 21 (3.10%) 3rd Line Engineer
12 21 (3.10%) IT Engineer
12 21 (3.10%) Network Support
12 21 (3.10%) Network Support Engineer
12 21 (3.10%) Security Architect
13 20 (2.95%) IT Support
13 20 (2.95%) Lead
14 19 (2.81%) Windows Engineer
15 18 (2.66%) Network Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (3.40%) LDAP
2 20 (2.95%) Elastic Stack
3 17 (2.51%) .NET
4 16 (2.36%) ADO
5 13 (1.92%) REST
5 13 (1.92%) YAML
6 12 (1.77%) CSS
7 10 (1.48%) HTML
8 9 (1.33%) NETCONF
9 8 (1.18%) Node.js
9 8 (1.18%) OpenTelemetry
9 8 (1.18%) RESTCONF
10 7 (1.03%) OAuth
10 7 (1.03%) OAuth2
10 7 (1.03%) OpenID
11 6 (0.89%) JSON
12 5 (0.74%) 802.1X
12 5 (0.74%) ASP.NET
12 5 (0.74%) React
13 4 (0.59%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 59 (8.71%) PKI
2 46 (6.79%) Data Centre
3 35 (5.17%) Clustering
4 27 (3.99%) Cloud Native
5 25 (3.69%) Linux Command Line
5 25 (3.69%) Management Information System
6 21 (3.10%) Replication
7 18 (2.66%) Anti-Spyware
8 15 (2.22%) Data Protection Act
8 15 (2.22%) Security Operations Centre
9 13 (1.92%) Analytical Mindset
9 13 (1.92%) Cyberattack
9 13 (1.92%) Hybrid Cloud
10 12 (1.77%) Enterprise Software
11 10 (1.48%) Cyber Threat
11 10 (1.48%) Distributed Systems
11 10 (1.48%) Enterprise Storage
11 10 (1.48%) Public Cloud
12 9 (1.33%) Self-Motivation
12 9 (1.33%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 336 (49.63%) Windows
2 180 (26.59%) Windows Server
3 163 (24.08%) Linux
4 49 (7.24%) Windows 10
5 45 (6.65%) Windows Server 2019
6 42 (6.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 42 (6.20%) Windows Server 2016
7 22 (3.25%) Windows Server 2003
8 18 (2.66%) VMS
9 17 (2.51%) CentOS
10 16 (2.36%) Unix
11 14 (2.07%) Mac OS
11 14 (2.07%) Windows Server 2012
12 13 (1.92%) Windows 7
13 11 (1.62%) Android
13 11 (1.62%) Ubuntu
14 10 (1.48%) Solaris
15 5 (0.74%) Apple iOS
15 5 (0.74%) Rocky
16 4 (0.59%) Amazon Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 134 (19.79%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 130 (19.20%) DevOps
3 109 (16.10%) Infrastructure as Code
4 106 (15.66%) Agile
4 106 (15.66%) Problem-Solving
5 81 (11.96%) ITIL
6 80 (11.82%) Migration
7 73 (10.78%) CI/CD
8 66 (9.75%) Containerisation
9 65 (9.60%) High Availability
10 49 (7.24%) ITSM
11 44 (6.50%) Cybersecurity
12 43 (6.35%) Service Management
13 42 (6.20%) SIEM
14 41 (6.06%) Load Balancing
15 40 (5.91%) Configuration Management
16 38 (5.61%) Deployment Automation
17 36 (5.32%) Computer Science
18 33 (4.87%) Project Management
19 32 (4.73%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 171 (25.26%) PowerShell
2 146 (21.57%) Python
3 85 (12.56%) Bash
4 51 (7.53%) Perl
5 39 (5.76%) SQL
6 31 (4.58%) Shell Script
7 29 (4.28%) Java
8 25 (3.69%) Bicep
9 22 (3.25%) C#
10 18 (2.66%) PL/SQL
11 16 (2.36%) JavaScript
12 15 (2.22%) VBScript
13 10 (1.48%) VB
14 7 (1.03%) Groovy
15 6 (0.89%) Kusto Query Language
16 4 (0.59%) TypeScript
17 3 (0.44%) Apex Code
17 3 (0.44%) PHP
18 2 (0.30%) Go
18 2 (0.30%) SOQL
Qualifications
1 231 (34.12%) Security Cleared
2 155 (22.90%) SC Cleared
3 116 (17.13%) Cisco Certification
4 82 (12.11%) Degree
5 79 (11.67%) DV Cleared
6 73 (10.78%) CCNP
7 49 (7.24%) CCNA
8 24 (3.55%) Computer Science Degree
9 14 (2.07%) AWS Certification
10 13 (1.92%) Microsoft Certification
11 11 (1.62%) CCIE
12 10 (1.48%) A+ Certification
13 8 (1.18%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 8 (1.18%) CISSP
13 8 (1.18%) MCSA
14 7 (1.03%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
14 7 (1.03%) JNCIS
15 6 (0.89%) CCSA
15 6 (0.89%) JNCIA
15 6 (0.89%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (4.28%) SLA
2 15 (2.22%) GDPR
3 13 (1.92%) PCI DSS
4 11 (1.62%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 9 (1.33%) NIST
6 7 (1.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 7 (1.03%) NCSC
7 5 (0.74%) QA
7 5 (0.74%) SOC 2
8 4 (0.59%) GRC
9 3 (0.44%) Accessibility
9 3 (0.44%) Data Quality
9 3 (0.44%) HIPAA
9 3 (0.44%) WCAG
10 2 (0.30%) Actionable Recommendations
10 2 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.30%) Government Security Classifications
10 2 (0.30%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 2 (0.30%) NIST 800
System Software
1 276 (40.77%) Active Directory
2 137 (20.24%) VMware Infrastructure
3 74 (10.93%) Docker
4 65 (9.60%) Hyper-V
5 49 (7.24%) VMware ESXi
6 44 (6.50%) vSphere
7 31 (4.58%) Virtual Servers
8 26 (3.84%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 21 (3.10%) Microsoft App-V
10 16 (2.36%) BitLocker
11 14 (2.07%) Virtual Machines
12 13 (1.92%) DFS Replication
13 12 (1.77%) Virtual Desktop
14 10 (1.48%) Terminal Services
14 10 (1.48%) VMware NSX
15 9 (1.33%) NFS
15 9 (1.33%) XenApp
16 7 (1.03%) Firmware
17 6 (0.89%) XenDesktop
18 5 (0.74%) ISA Server
Systems Management
1 151 (22.30%) Ansible
2 136 (20.09%) Terraform
3 76 (11.23%) Kubernetes
4 68 (10.04%) SCCM
5 59 (8.71%) Puppet
6 56 (8.27%) WSUS
7 52 (7.68%) Microsoft Intune
8 30 (4.43%) Progress Chef
9 28 (4.14%) Grafana
9 28 (4.14%) Prometheus
10 27 (3.99%) vCenter Server
11 17 (2.51%) Nagios
12 13 (1.92%) Microsoft Clustering
13 12 (1.77%) Tivoli
13 12 (1.77%) vMotion
14 11 (1.62%) FortiGate
14 11 (1.62%) Red Hat Satellite
15 7 (1.03%) QRadar
16 6 (0.89%) Kustomize
16 6 (0.89%) OpenView
Vendors
1 227 (33.53%) Microsoft
2 200 (29.54%) VMware
3 176 (26.00%) Cisco
4 68 (10.04%) CheckPoint
5 62 (9.16%) ServiceNow
6 55 (8.12%) Red Hat
7 51 (7.53%) F5
8 46 (6.79%) Palo Alto
9 44 (6.50%) SolarWinds
10 40 (5.91%) Citrix
10 40 (5.91%) Fortinet
11 39 (5.76%) Splunk
12 35 (5.17%) Infoblox
13 34 (5.02%) Google
14 32 (4.73%) Oracle
15 27 (3.99%) Juniper
16 26 (3.84%) Dell
16 26 (3.84%) HP
17 22 (3.25%) NetApp
18 19 (2.81%) Symantec
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