VPN Contract Job Trends in the South East

Virtual Private Network (VPN)
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East requiring VPN skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 4 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 117 78 115
Rank change year-on-year -39 +37 -13
Contract jobs citing VPN 67 104 96
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 1.57% 2.62% 1.86%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.72% 14.69% 8.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 45 59 49
10th Percentile £164 £179 £177
25th Percentile £400 £321 £250
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £525 £450
Median % change year-on-year +9.52% +16.67% -14.29%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £550
90th Percentile £650 £661 £639
England median daily rate £450 £459 £473
% change year-on-year -1.96% -2.96% +7.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 3 4
10th Percentile £25.64 £17.80 £21.45
25th Percentile £42.33 £18.06 £23.25
Median hourly rate £83.32 £19.00 £24.75
Median % change year-on-year +338.50% -23.23% +7.61%
75th Percentile £89.63 £20.95 £25.13
90th Percentile - £21.82 £25.35
England median hourly rate £25.47 £35.00 £21.00
% change year-on-year -27.23% +66.67% -4.55%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
South East

VPN 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 in the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 625 708 1,151
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 14.68% 17.81% 22.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 447 397 619
10th Percentile £204 £220 £204
25th Percentile £329 £390 £294
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% +11.11% -5.26%
75th Percentile £583 £600 £575
90th Percentile £638 £650 £650
England median daily rate £482 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -3.60% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 33 71
10th Percentile £18.41 £32.00 £21.00
25th Percentile £29.89 £45.00 £26.25
Median hourly rate £70.16 £62.50 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +12.26% +4.17% +33.33%
75th Percentile £86.91 £75.00 £75.46
90th Percentile £90.04 - £78.00
England median hourly rate £30.00 £48.56 £56.45
% change year-on-year -38.22% -13.97% +25.43%

VPN
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing VPN relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

VPN job vacancy trend in the South East

VPN
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing VPN.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing VPN

VPN
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing VPN in the South East over the 6 months to 4 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for VPN in the South East

VPN
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing VPN.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing VPN

VPN
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing VPN in the South East over the 6 months to 4 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for VPN in the South East

VPN
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing VPN within the South East region over the 6 months to 4 December 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
Hampshire -2 28 £600 +11.63% 30
Thames Valley -21 25 £411 -25.23% 28
Berkshire -15 14 £430 -20.00% 18
Oxfordshire -5 8 £600 -4.00% 7
Kent 0 6 £155 -0.67% 21
Surrey -13 5 £525 +5.00% 11
Buckinghamshire -9 3 £274 -50.27% 3
West Sussex -17 2 £400 +110.53% 5
M4 Corridor - 1 £375 -
East Sussex - 1 - - 1
VPN
England

VPN
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 17 (25.37%) SharePoint
2 10 (14.93%) Exchange Server 2003
2 10 (14.93%) Exchange Server 2007
2 10 (14.93%) Exchange Server 2010
2 10 (14.93%) Exchange Server 2013
2 10 (14.93%) Microsoft Exchange
2 10 (14.93%) Office Communications Server
2 10 (14.93%) SharePoint Server
2 10 (14.93%) Skype for Business
3 1 (1.49%) Anypoint
3 1 (1.49%) Confluence
3 1 (1.49%) IIS
3 1 (1.49%) Tomcat
Applications
1 20 (29.85%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (1.49%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 14 (20.90%) Microsoft 365
2 10 (14.93%) Azure
3 6 (8.96%) Entra ID
4 5 (7.46%) AWS
5 3 (4.48%) Azure ExpressRoute
5 3 (4.48%) Azure Sentinel
6 2 (2.99%) SaaS
7 1 (1.49%) Azure AKS
7 1 (1.49%) Azure DevOps
7 1 (1.49%) Azure Key Vault
7 1 (1.49%) Azure Monitor
7 1 (1.49%) GCP
7 1 (1.49%) GitHub
7 1 (1.49%) GitHub Actions
7 1 (1.49%) IaaS
7 1 (1.49%) Microsoft Purview
7 1 (1.49%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 32 (47.76%) Firewall
2 27 (40.30%) DNS
3 19 (28.36%) BGP
4 18 (26.87%) TCP/IP
5 16 (23.88%) MPLS
6 15 (22.39%) DHCP
7 14 (20.90%) OSPF
8 10 (14.93%) DDNS
8 10 (14.93%) SAN
9 9 (13.43%) LAN
9 9 (13.43%) Network Security
9 9 (13.43%) WAN
10 8 (11.94%) IPsec
11 7 (10.45%) VLAN
12 6 (8.96%) Junos
12 6 (8.96%) Remote Desktop
12 6 (8.96%) Wireless
13 4 (5.97%) Cisco IOS
14 3 (4.48%) Cisco ASA
14 3 (4.48%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.49%) MongoDB
1 1 (1.49%) NoSQL
1 1 (1.49%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 5 (7.46%) JIRA
2 3 (4.48%) GitLab
3 2 (2.99%) Jenkins
4 1 (1.49%) Bitbucket
4 1 (1.49%) Git
4 1 (1.49%) Maven
General
1 18 (26.87%) Social Skills
2 8 (11.94%) Legal
2 8 (11.94%) Public Sector
2 8 (11.94%) Telecoms
3 7 (10.45%) Analytical Skills
4 5 (7.46%) Finance
4 5 (7.46%) Law
5 4 (5.97%) Organisational Skills
6 3 (4.48%) Aerospace
6 3 (4.48%) Retail
7 2 (2.99%) Advertising
7 2 (2.99%) Documentation Skills
7 2 (2.99%) Electronics
7 2 (2.99%) Manufacturing
7 2 (2.99%) Marketing
8 1 (1.49%) Local Government
8 1 (1.49%) Military
Job Titles
1 16 (23.88%) Network Engineer
2 13 (19.40%) Support Engineer
3 10 (14.93%) Exchange Engineer
3 10 (14.93%) Exchange Support
4 7 (10.45%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
5 6 (8.96%) Architect
5 6 (8.96%) IT Support
5 6 (8.96%) Senior
5 6 (8.96%) Support Officer
6 5 (7.46%) Help Desk Officer
6 5 (7.46%) Help Desk Support
6 5 (7.46%) Service Desk Officer
6 5 (7.46%) Service Desk Support
7 4 (5.97%) 3rd Line Engineer
7 4 (5.97%) Analyst
7 4 (5.97%) Design Engineer
7 4 (5.97%) IP Engineer
7 4 (5.97%) Lead
7 4 (5.97%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 3 (4.48%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (2.99%) JSON
1 2 (2.99%) REST
1 2 (2.99%) XML
2 1 (1.49%) 802.1X
2 1 (1.49%) Azure Blueprints
2 1 (1.49%) MUnit
2 1 (1.49%) NETCONF
2 1 (1.49%) RAML
2 1 (1.49%) RESTCONF
2 1 (1.49%) SOAP
2 1 (1.49%) YAML
2 1 (1.49%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 10 (14.93%) Replication
2 6 (8.96%) Data Centre
3 4 (5.97%) Cloud Native
3 4 (5.97%) Hybrid Cloud
4 3 (4.48%) NHS
4 3 (4.48%) SCADA
4 3 (4.48%) Video Conferencing
4 3 (4.48%) Virtual Team
5 2 (2.99%) Management Information System
6 1 (1.49%) Algorithms
6 1 (1.49%) Cyber Defence
6 1 (1.49%) Cyber Threat
6 1 (1.49%) Driving Licence
6 1 (1.49%) Enterprise Cloud
6 1 (1.49%) Legacy Systems
6 1 (1.49%) Onboarding
6 1 (1.49%) PKI
6 1 (1.49%) Smartcard
6 1 (1.49%) TM Forum
Operating Systems
1 26 (38.81%) Windows
2 10 (14.93%) Windows Server 2003
3 9 (13.43%) Windows 10
4 8 (11.94%) Windows Server
5 5 (7.46%) Mac OS
5 5 (7.46%) Windows Server 2012
5 5 (7.46%) Windows Server 2016
6 1 (1.49%) CentOS
6 1 (1.49%) Linux
6 1 (1.49%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 27 (40.30%) ITIL
2 18 (26.87%) Problem-Solving
3 16 (23.88%) High Availability
4 12 (17.91%) Business Intelligence
4 12 (17.91%) Cybersecurity
5 11 (16.42%) Migration
6 10 (14.93%) Architectural Design
6 10 (14.93%) Content Management
6 10 (14.93%) Enterprise Content Management
6 10 (14.93%) Enterprise Search
7 8 (11.94%) ITSM
8 7 (10.45%) SIEM
8 7 (10.45%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 6 (8.96%) Customer Service
9 6 (8.96%) Network Design
9 6 (8.96%) Network Segmentation
9 6 (8.96%) Stakeholder Management
9 6 (8.96%) Test Automation
10 5 (7.46%) Creative Problem-Solving
10 5 (7.46%) Infrastructure Transformation
Programming Languages
1 8 (11.94%) Python
2 4 (5.97%) Bash
3 3 (4.48%) PowerShell
4 1 (1.49%) Bicep
4 1 (1.49%) Java
4 1 (1.49%) SQL
Qualifications
1 34 (50.75%) Security Cleared
2 20 (29.85%) DV Cleared
3 14 (20.90%) Cisco Certification
4 11 (16.42%) CCNP
5 10 (14.93%) SC Cleared
6 6 (8.96%) CCNA
6 6 (8.96%) JNCIS
7 5 (7.46%) A+ Certification
7 5 (7.46%) Degree
7 5 (7.46%) Microsoft Certification
8 4 (5.97%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 3 (4.48%) BPSS Clearance
9 3 (4.48%) CCIE
9 3 (4.48%) JNCIP
10 2 (2.99%) JNCIA
10 2 (2.99%) Network+ Certification
11 1 (1.49%) CCDP
11 1 (1.49%) CISM
11 1 (1.49%) CISSP
11 1 (1.49%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (13.43%) GDPR
2 5 (7.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (4.48%) SLA
4 2 (2.99%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (2.99%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 2 (2.99%) NIST
5 1 (1.49%) Government Security Classifications
5 1 (1.49%) JSP 440
5 1 (1.49%) NCSC
5 1 (1.49%) QA
System Software
1 25 (37.31%) Active Directory
2 10 (14.93%) Brightmail
2 10 (14.93%) ISA Server
3 5 (7.46%) Hyper-V
3 5 (7.46%) Terminal Services
3 5 (7.46%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (4.48%) VMware NSX
5 2 (2.99%) Docker
5 2 (2.99%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 10 (14.93%) Microsoft Clustering
2 8 (11.94%) Ansible
3 4 (5.97%) FortiGate
3 4 (5.97%) Single Sign-On
4 3 (4.48%) Iperf
4 3 (4.48%) Kubernetes
4 3 (4.48%) Microsoft Intune
4 3 (4.48%) Nmap
4 3 (4.48%) SCCM
4 3 (4.48%) Terraform
5 2 (2.99%) vCenter Server
6 1 (1.49%) CloudHub
Vendors
1 30 (44.78%) Microsoft
2 27 (40.30%) Cisco
3 17 (25.37%) Palo Alto
4 11 (16.42%) Juniper
5 10 (14.93%) Fortinet
5 10 (14.93%) VMware
6 8 (11.94%) CheckPoint
7 6 (8.96%) Citrix
8 4 (5.97%) ServiceNow
9 3 (4.48%) McAfee
9 3 (4.48%) Nokia
9 3 (4.48%) SAP
9 3 (4.48%) SolarWinds
9 3 (4.48%) Zscaler
10 2 (2.99%) Sophos
11 1 (1.49%) Ariba
11 1 (1.49%) Blue Coat
11 1 (1.49%) Google
11 1 (1.49%) Qualys
11 1 (1.49%) Salesforce