Virtual Private Network (VPN)
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for VPN skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited VPN over the 6 months to 27 April 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
27 Apr 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 138 205 258
Rank change year-on-year +67 +53 -14
Contract jobs citing VPN 741 781 979
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 1.71% 1.31% 1.10%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 13.19% 10.60% 10.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 453 491 684
10th Percentile £200 £160 £172
25th Percentile £300 £225 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £444 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year -1.33% -5.26% +11.76%
75th Percentile £575 £569 £586
90th Percentile £825 £675 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £425 £375
% change year-on-year - +13.33% -1.32%
Number of hourly rates quoted 42 18 30
10th Percentile £12.75 £16.08 £16.00
25th Percentile £13.97 £18.61 £18.13
Median hourly rate £17.00 £21.61 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.33% -1.77% +22.22%
75th Percentile £22.57 £62.00 £29.88
90th Percentile £24.75 £67.06 £54.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.00 £21.61 £20.00
% change year-on-year -25.98% +8.05% +5.26%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

VPN is in the Communications and Computer Networking category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 5,616 7,369 9,710
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 12.97% 12.32% 10.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,363 4,796 6,383
10th Percentile £205 £231 £230
25th Percentile £350 £400 £384
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £519 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.59% +3.80% +11.11%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £606
90th Percentile £700 £725 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £438
% change year-on-year - +8.57% +9.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 420 481 362
10th Percentile £13.50 £9.80 £14.82
25th Percentile £17.00 £10.63 £17.00
Median hourly rate £38.00 £19.00 £28.33
Median % change year-on-year +100.00% -32.93% -0.60%
75th Percentile £62.50 £60.50 £50.77
90th Percentile £67.75 £75.00 £66.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.88 £18.50 £21.50
% change year-on-year +148.00% -13.95% -14.00%

VPN
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Job vacancy trend for VPN in the UK

VPN
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

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

Daily rate trend for VPN in the UK

VPN
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing VPN over the 6 months to 27 April 2024.

Daily rate histogram for VPN in the UK

VPN
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

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

Hourly rate trend for VPN in the UK

VPN
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing VPN over the 6 months to 27 April 2024.

Hourly rate histogram for VPN in the UK

VPN
Top 16 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing VPN within the UK over the 6 months to 27 April 2024. 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 +89 684 £438 -2.78% 279
UK excluding London +72 459 £425 - 231
London +49 232 £450 - 77
Work from Home +45 196 £475 -5.00% 136
South East +48 124 £400 -20.00% 57
Midlands +36 115 £375 -21.05% 44
North of England +49 99 £602 +78.37% 52
West Midlands +44 96 £375 -26.47% 28
North West +40 76 £800 +137.04% 30
South West +22 54 £425 -5.56% 28
East of England +25 39 £475 +90.00% 24
Yorkshire +14 22 £300 -27.27% 16
Scotland +23 19 £438 +173.75% 25
East Midlands +15 18 £325 -23.53% 16
Wales +18 11 £575 +35.29% 5
North East +17 1 £600 +54.84% 6

VPN
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 60 (8.10%) Microsoft Exchange
2 31 (4.18%) SharePoint
3 13 (1.75%) Apache
3 13 (1.75%) Apache Airflow
3 13 (1.75%) Confluence
4 8 (1.08%) IIS
5 5 (0.67%) Skype for Business
6 4 (0.54%) CMS
6 4 (0.54%) MQSeries
7 3 (0.40%) nginx
7 3 (0.40%) WordPress
8 1 (0.13%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
8 1 (0.13%) Camunda
8 1 (0.13%) WebSphere
Applications
1 75 (10.12%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (0.67%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (0.67%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 3 (0.40%) Oracle EBS
2 2 (0.27%) Dynamics NAV
2 2 (0.27%) Eikon
3 1 (0.13%) Sage X3
3 1 (0.13%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 170 (22.94%) Azure
2 115 (15.52%) AWS
3 101 (13.63%) Microsoft 365
4 40 (5.40%) GCP
5 33 (4.45%) Entra ID
6 30 (4.05%) PaaS
7 25 (3.37%) IaaS
8 17 (2.29%) Cloud Computing
8 17 (2.29%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 16 (2.16%) GitHub
9 16 (2.16%) OneDrive
10 13 (1.75%) SaaS
11 12 (1.62%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 11 (1.48%) AWS CloudFormation
12 11 (1.48%) Azure DevOps
13 10 (1.35%) Amazon EC2
14 9 (1.21%) Amazon S3
15 8 (1.08%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 8 (1.08%) Mimecast
16 7 (0.94%) Cloudflare
Communications & Networking
1 387 (52.23%) Firewall
2 244 (32.93%) WAN
3 184 (24.83%) LAN
4 154 (20.78%) BGP
5 131 (17.68%) DNS
6 125 (16.87%) MPLS
7 116 (15.65%) IPsec
8 110 (14.84%) Wireless
9 108 (14.57%) OSPF
10 106 (14.30%) Network Security
11 77 (10.39%) TCP/IP
12 71 (9.58%) VLAN
13 70 (9.45%) DHCP
13 70 (9.45%) Wi-Fi
14 54 (7.29%) Cisco ASA
15 51 (6.88%) Junos
16 45 (6.07%) SD-WAN
16 45 (6.07%) WLAN
17 42 (5.67%) Cisco Nexus
18 33 (4.45%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (1.75%) Amazon RDS
2 12 (1.62%) MongoDB
2 12 (1.62%) NoSQL
2 12 (1.62%) PostgreSQL
3 11 (1.48%) Elasticsearch
4 10 (1.35%) SQL Server
5 9 (1.21%) MySQL
6 5 (0.67%) Azure SQL Database
7 4 (0.54%) Amazon QuickSight
7 4 (0.54%) MariaDB
7 4 (0.54%) RDBMS
7 4 (0.54%) Relational Database
8 3 (0.40%) Amazon Aurora
8 3 (0.40%) Data Lake
9 2 (0.27%) Power BI
10 1 (0.13%) BusinessObjects
10 1 (0.13%) Redis
Development Applications
1 40 (5.40%) JIRA
2 22 (2.97%) GitLab
3 21 (2.83%) Git
4 13 (1.75%) Robot Framework
4 13 (1.75%) TestRail
5 9 (1.21%) Jenkins
6 7 (0.94%) Sonatype Nexus
7 6 (0.81%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 6 (0.81%) CircleCI
7 6 (0.81%) Travis CI
8 5 (0.67%) Spinnaker
9 4 (0.54%) Bitbucket
9 4 (0.54%) Cypress.io
9 4 (0.54%) Snyk
10 3 (0.40%) Postman
11 2 (0.27%) Visual Studio
11 2 (0.27%) Visual Studio Code
12 1 (0.13%) Fiddler
12 1 (0.13%) MSI
12 1 (0.13%) Subversion
General
1 187 (25.24%) Social Skills
2 86 (11.61%) Finance
3 78 (10.53%) Analytical Skills
4 68 (9.18%) Public Sector
5 40 (5.40%) Telecoms
6 23 (3.10%) Banking
7 19 (2.56%) Legal
8 16 (2.16%) Manufacturing
9 13 (1.75%) Electronics
9 13 (1.75%) Investment Banking
9 13 (1.75%) Marketing
9 13 (1.75%) Organisational Skills
10 11 (1.48%) Documentation Skills
10 11 (1.48%) Financial Institution
10 11 (1.48%) Retail
11 9 (1.21%) Presentation Skills
12 8 (1.08%) Mandarin Language
13 5 (0.67%) Automotive
14 4 (0.54%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 4 (0.54%) Law
Job Titles
1 198 (26.72%) Network Engineer
2 102 (13.77%) Architect
3 74 (9.99%) Support Engineer
4 59 (7.96%) Lead
5 46 (6.21%) Technical Architect
6 45 (6.07%) Senior
7 41 (5.53%) Analyst
8 39 (5.26%) 3rd Line Engineer
9 38 (5.13%) Lead Architect
10 36 (4.86%) IT Support
11 35 (4.72%) Network Architect
11 35 (4.72%) Network Specialist
11 35 (4.72%) Technical Leader
12 33 (4.45%) 3rd Line Support
12 33 (4.45%) WAN Engineer
13 32 (4.32%) Desktop Support
14 31 (4.18%) Cisco Engineer
14 31 (4.18%) IT Engineer
15 30 (4.05%) Cisco Network Engineer
15 30 (4.05%) Network Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (5.94%) Node.js
2 24 (3.24%) LDAP
3 23 (3.10%) JSON
4 19 (2.56%) HTML
4 19 (2.56%) NETCONF
5 18 (2.43%) YANG
6 17 (2.29%) CSS
6 17 (2.29%) React
7 13 (1.75%) .NET
7 13 (1.75%) REST
7 13 (1.75%) RESTCONF
7 13 (1.75%) SOAP
7 13 (1.75%) XML
7 13 (1.75%) XMPP
8 12 (1.62%) YAML
9 11 (1.48%) Elastic Stack
9 11 (1.48%) SAML
9 11 (1.48%) Web Services
10 6 (0.81%) 802.1X
10 6 (0.81%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 93 (12.55%) PKI
2 62 (8.37%) Data Centre
3 57 (7.69%) Public Cloud
4 28 (3.78%) Video Conferencing
5 19 (2.56%) Clustering
6 16 (2.16%) Self-Motivation
7 14 (1.89%) Product Ownership
8 13 (1.75%) BYOD
9 12 (1.62%) Hedge funds
9 12 (1.62%) NHS
9 12 (1.62%) Onboarding
10 11 (1.48%) Cloud Native
10 11 (1.48%) Hybrid Cloud
11 10 (1.35%) Analytical Mindset
11 10 (1.35%) iPad
12 9 (1.21%) Data Protection Act
12 9 (1.21%) Management Information System
13 8 (1.08%) Blackberry
13 8 (1.08%) Driving Licence
14 7 (0.94%) iPhone
Operating Systems
1 267 (36.03%) Windows
2 122 (16.46%) Windows Server
3 88 (11.88%) Windows 10
4 66 (8.91%) Linux
5 55 (7.42%) Android
6 53 (7.15%) Apple iOS
7 50 (6.75%) Windows 7
8 27 (3.64%) Mac OS
9 20 (2.70%) Windows Server 2019
10 16 (2.16%) Unix
11 13 (1.75%) Windows Server 2012
12 9 (1.21%) Windows Server 2016
13 6 (0.81%) Ubuntu
14 5 (0.67%) VMS
15 4 (0.54%) Windows Server 2003
16 3 (0.40%) Mac OS X
16 3 (0.40%) Windows Server 2008
16 3 (0.40%) Windows XP
17 2 (0.27%) CentOS
17 2 (0.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 128 (17.27%) Problem-Solving
2 117 (15.79%) Agile
3 106 (14.30%) CI/CD
4 99 (13.36%) DevOps
5 93 (12.55%) Customer Service
6 86 (11.61%) Load Balancing
7 70 (9.45%) Migration
8 68 (9.18%) ITIL
9 63 (8.50%) Zero Trust
10 60 (8.10%) Mobile Device Management
10 60 (8.10%) Network Design
11 57 (7.69%) Risk Management
12 56 (7.56%) Infrastructure as Code
13 54 (7.29%) High Availability
14 52 (7.02%) Project Management
14 52 (7.02%) Security Architecture
15 51 (6.88%) Project Delivery
16 49 (6.61%) Infrastructure Engineering
17 46 (6.21%) Change Management
17 46 (6.21%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 65 (8.77%) Python
2 64 (8.64%) PowerShell
3 33 (4.45%) SQL
4 23 (3.10%) Java
5 15 (2.02%) TypeScript
6 13 (1.75%) Bash
7 10 (1.35%) C#
8 6 (0.81%) PHP
9 5 (0.67%) JavaScript
10 4 (0.54%) Go
11 3 (0.40%) Bicep
11 3 (0.40%) Perl
12 2 (0.27%) Ruby
13 1 (0.13%) C
13 1 (0.13%) C++
13 1 (0.13%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 221 (29.82%) Security Cleared
2 129 (17.41%) SC Cleared
3 110 (14.84%) Cisco Certification
4 77 (10.39%) CCNP
5 64 (8.64%) Degree
6 46 (6.21%) CCNA
7 31 (4.18%) CCIE
8 23 (3.10%) Microsoft Certification
9 16 (2.16%) Computer Science Degree
9 16 (2.16%) DV Cleared
10 14 (1.89%) BPSS Clearance
11 13 (1.75%) MCSE
12 12 (1.62%) AWS Certification
12 12 (1.62%) JNCIA
13 9 (1.21%) CCIE Data Center
14 8 (1.08%) JNCIS
14 8 (1.08%) MCSA
15 7 (0.94%) CCDP
16 6 (0.81%) CCSA
17 5 (0.67%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 54 (7.29%) SLA
2 25 (3.37%) QA
3 10 (1.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (0.54%) NCSC
4 4 (0.54%) NIST
4 4 (0.54%) PCI DSS
5 3 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials
5 3 (0.40%) GDPR
6 2 (0.27%) Disclosure Scotland
6 2 (0.27%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 1 (0.13%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.13%) GRC
7 1 (0.13%) HIPAA
7 1 (0.13%) HL7
7 1 (0.13%) SOC 2
System Software
1 134 (18.08%) Active Directory
2 71 (9.58%) VMware Infrastructure
3 41 (5.53%) Hyper-V
4 37 (4.99%) Docker
5 23 (3.10%) Virtual Machines
6 16 (2.16%) Terminal Services
6 16 (2.16%) vSphere
7 14 (1.89%) Firmware
8 13 (1.75%) VMware ESXi
9 12 (1.62%) BitLocker
10 10 (1.35%) VMware NSX
11 9 (1.21%) Virtual Servers
12 8 (1.08%) Microsoft App-V
12 8 (1.08%) Virtual Desktop
13 6 (0.81%) VMware Workstation
14 4 (0.54%) NFS
14 4 (0.54%) Samba
15 2 (0.27%) Squid
16 1 (0.13%) Terminal Server
16 1 (0.13%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 51 (6.88%) Terraform
2 47 (6.34%) Ansible
3 41 (5.53%) SCCM
4 34 (4.59%) FortiGate
5 32 (4.32%) Kubernetes
6 26 (3.51%) Microsoft Intune
7 17 (2.29%) Grafana
8 15 (2.02%) Prometheus
9 11 (1.48%) Puppet
10 8 (1.08%) Failover Clustering
10 8 (1.08%) Jamf Pro
10 8 (1.08%) vCenter Server
11 7 (0.94%) Nagios
11 7 (0.94%) Single Sign-On
12 6 (0.81%) Autotask
12 6 (0.81%) Docker Swarm
12 6 (0.81%) Istio
12 6 (0.81%) Kibana
12 6 (0.81%) logstash
12 6 (0.81%) vMotion
Vendors
1 252 (34.01%) Cisco
2 187 (25.24%) Microsoft
3 157 (21.19%) Juniper
4 92 (12.42%) Palo Alto
4 92 (12.42%) VMware
5 63 (8.50%) Fortinet
6 51 (6.88%) F5
7 46 (6.21%) CheckPoint
7 46 (6.21%) Citrix
8 36 (4.86%) ServiceNow
9 25 (3.37%) SolarWinds
9 25 (3.37%) Zscaler
10 21 (2.83%) Apple
11 20 (2.70%) Infoblox
12 19 (2.56%) Google
12 19 (2.56%) Splunk
13 17 (2.29%) Aruba
13 17 (2.29%) Blue Coat
14 14 (1.89%) HP
14 14 (1.89%) Meraki