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

6 months to
31 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 105 82 91
Rank change year-on-year -23 +9 +21
Contract jobs citing VPN 84 81 123
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 1.83% 2.52% 2.27%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 13.31% 13.82% 9.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 53 39 59
10th Percentile £226 £205 £177
25th Percentile £400 £293 £201
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £525 £400
Median % change year-on-year -12.38% +31.25% -20.00%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £538
90th Percentile £650 £632 £625
England median daily rate £450 £475 £440
% change year-on-year -5.26% +8.08% +2.81%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 1 5
10th Percentile - - £18.90
25th Percentile £18.50 £18.50 £20.25
Median hourly rate £19.00 £19.00 £22.52
Median % change year-on-year - -15.63% -2.09%
75th Percentile £19.50 £19.50 £24.75
90th Percentile - - £24.90
England median hourly rate £19.00 £27.00 £20.50
% change year-on-year -29.63% +31.71% +2.50%

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 631 586 1,283
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 13.76% 18.23% 23.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 466 313 657
10th Percentile £219 £230 £200
25th Percentile £350 £375 £295
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £478 £500 £461
Median % change year-on-year -4.50% +8.42% -7.76%
75th Percentile £569 £600 £550
90th Percentile £650 £650 £638
England median daily rate £490 £500 £488
% change year-on-year -2.00% +2.56% -7.13%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 22 98
10th Percentile £17.78 £31.25 £15.01
25th Percentile £19.00 £35.00 £24.38
Median hourly rate £56.00 £59.13 £59.00
Median % change year-on-year -5.29% +0.21% +31.11%
75th Percentile £73.00 £62.50 £70.00
90th Percentile £84.80 £66.82 £78.00
England median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £50.00
% change year-on-year -14.29% -30.00% +141.49%

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 31 January 2026.

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
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 31 January 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
Thames Valley -29 37 £400 -29.20% 22
Hampshire -3 30 £563 +9.76% 20
Berkshire -27 26 £441 +85.79% 16
Surrey -11 9 £400 -20.00% 5
Oxfordshire - 6 £231 - 2
Buckinghamshire -14 5 £274 -52.33% 4
Kent - 4 £180 - 13
West Sussex -16 3 £400 +110.53% 5
M4 Corridor - 1 £375 -
East Sussex - 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 9 (10.71%) SharePoint
2 4 (4.76%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (3.57%) Exchange Server 2003
3 3 (3.57%) Exchange Server 2007
3 3 (3.57%) Exchange Server 2010
3 3 (3.57%) Exchange Server 2013
3 3 (3.57%) Office Communications Server
3 3 (3.57%) SharePoint Server
3 3 (3.57%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 10 (11.90%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (4.76%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (1.19%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 26 (30.95%) Azure
2 19 (22.62%) AWS
3 13 (15.48%) Microsoft 365
4 10 (11.90%) Entra ID
4 10 (11.90%) GCP
5 3 (3.57%) Nutanix
5 3 (3.57%) OneDrive
6 1 (1.19%) Azure Monitor
6 1 (1.19%) IaaS
6 1 (1.19%) Power Platform
6 1 (1.19%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 34 (40.48%) Firewall
2 32 (38.10%) LAN
2 32 (38.10%) WAN
3 24 (28.57%) BGP
4 21 (25.00%) DNS
4 21 (25.00%) OSPF
5 19 (22.62%) MPLS
6 17 (20.24%) Network Security
7 16 (19.05%) SD-WAN
8 15 (17.86%) TCP/IP
9 11 (13.10%) VLAN
10 8 (9.52%) DHCP
11 7 (8.33%) IPv6
11 7 (8.33%) Junos
12 6 (7.14%) IPsec
12 6 (7.14%) Wi-Fi
13 4 (4.76%) Intrusion Detection
13 4 (4.76%) IPv4
13 4 (4.76%) S/MIME
13 4 (4.76%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.19%) Power BI
1 1 (1.19%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 2 (2.38%) GitLab
1 2 (2.38%) JIRA
2 1 (1.19%) Jenkins
General
1 25 (29.76%) Social Skills
2 10 (11.90%) Telecoms
3 7 (8.33%) Public Sector
4 6 (7.14%) Documentation Skills
4 6 (7.14%) Finance
5 5 (5.95%) Analytical Skills
6 3 (3.57%) Electronics
6 3 (3.57%) Legal
6 3 (3.57%) Manufacturing
6 3 (3.57%) Marketing
6 3 (3.57%) Retail
7 1 (1.19%) Aerospace
7 1 (1.19%) Aviation
7 1 (1.19%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 20 (23.81%) Network Engineer
2 19 (22.62%) Architect
3 13 (15.48%) Lead
4 11 (13.10%) Senior
5 8 (9.52%) Infrastructure Architect
6 7 (8.33%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
7 6 (7.14%) Network Architect
8 5 (5.95%) Analyst
8 5 (5.95%) Design Engineer
8 5 (5.95%) Support Engineer
9 4 (4.76%) IP Engineer
9 4 (4.76%) Network Design Engineer
9 4 (4.76%) Senior Architect
10 3 (3.57%) Designer
10 3 (3.57%) Exchange Support
10 3 (3.57%) Juniper Engineer
10 3 (3.57%) Juniper Specialist
10 3 (3.57%) Senior Designer
10 3 (3.57%) Senior Network Architect
10 3 (3.57%) Senior Network Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (1.19%) 802.1X
1 1 (1.19%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 15 (17.86%) Data Centre
2 11 (13.10%) Cloud Native
3 8 (9.52%) Public Cloud
4 4 (4.76%) Algorithms
4 4 (4.76%) NHS
4 4 (4.76%) PKI
4 4 (4.76%) Smartcard
5 3 (3.57%) Hybrid Cloud
5 3 (3.57%) Replication
5 3 (3.57%) SCADA
5 3 (3.57%) Video Conferencing
5 3 (3.57%) Virtual Team
6 2 (2.38%) Linux Command Line
6 2 (2.38%) Onboarding
7 1 (1.19%) Driving Licence
7 1 (1.19%) Enterprise Cloud
7 1 (1.19%) Life Science
7 1 (1.19%) Management Information System
7 1 (1.19%) Security Posture
7 1 (1.19%) TM Forum
Operating Systems
1 13 (15.48%) Windows
2 7 (8.33%) Windows 10
3 3 (3.57%) Windows Server 2003
4 2 (2.38%) Linux
4 2 (2.38%) Mac OS
5 1 (1.19%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 22 (26.19%) ITIL
2 16 (19.05%) ITSM
3 10 (11.90%) High Availability
3 10 (11.90%) Network Design
4 9 (10.71%) Continuous Improvement
4 9 (10.71%) Customer Service
4 9 (10.71%) Cybersecurity
4 9 (10.71%) Test Automation
5 7 (8.33%) Business Intelligence
5 7 (8.33%) Knowledge Transfer
5 7 (8.33%) Network Monitoring
5 7 (8.33%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 6 (7.14%) DevOps
6 6 (7.14%) Migration
6 6 (7.14%) Problem-Solving
6 6 (7.14%) Stakeholder Management
6 6 (7.14%) Validation
6 6 (7.14%) Zero Trust
7 5 (5.95%) Architectural Design
7 5 (5.95%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 8 (9.52%) Python
2 5 (5.95%) Bash
3 4 (4.76%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 37 (44.05%) Security Cleared
2 22 (26.19%) Cisco Certification
3 21 (25.00%) CCNP
3 21 (25.00%) DV Cleared
4 13 (15.48%) SC Cleared
5 11 (13.10%) CCNA
5 11 (13.10%) JNCIS
6 5 (5.95%) Network+ Certification
7 4 (4.76%) CCIE
7 4 (4.76%) CISM
7 4 (4.76%) CISSP
7 4 (4.76%) GIAC
7 4 (4.76%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 4 (4.76%) JNCIA
7 4 (4.76%) JNCIP
8 2 (2.38%) BPSS Clearance
8 2 (2.38%) Microsoft Certification
9 1 (1.19%) CCDP
9 1 (1.19%) ISTQB
9 1 (1.19%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (5.95%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 5 (5.95%) NIST
2 4 (4.76%) SLA
3 1 (1.19%) GRC
3 1 (1.19%) NCSC
3 1 (1.19%) QA
System Software
1 17 (20.24%) Active Directory
2 9 (10.71%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (9.52%) Hyper-V
4 3 (3.57%) Brightmail
4 3 (3.57%) ISA Server
4 3 (3.57%) VMware NSX
5 1 (1.19%) BitLocker
5 1 (1.19%) Docker
5 1 (1.19%) KVM
5 1 (1.19%) RHEV
5 1 (1.19%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (1.19%) Xen
Systems Management
1 11 (13.10%) Ansible
2 7 (8.33%) Nagios
3 6 (7.14%) Single Sign-On
4 4 (4.76%) Iperf
4 4 (4.76%) Microsoft Intune
4 4 (4.76%) Nmap
4 4 (4.76%) SCCM
4 4 (4.76%) Terraform
5 3 (3.57%) Endace
5 3 (3.57%) Microsoft Clustering
6 1 (1.19%) Cisco Prime
6 1 (1.19%) FortiGate
6 1 (1.19%) Kubernetes
6 1 (1.19%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 33 (39.29%) Cisco
2 22 (26.19%) Juniper
3 19 (22.62%) Microsoft
4 13 (15.48%) VMware
5 12 (14.29%) Palo Alto
6 11 (13.10%) SolarWinds
7 9 (10.71%) Fortinet
8 5 (5.95%) CheckPoint
8 5 (5.95%) F5
8 5 (5.95%) Zscaler
9 4 (4.76%) SAP
9 4 (4.76%) Thales
10 3 (3.57%) McAfee
10 3 (3.57%) Nokia
10 3 (3.57%) ServiceNow
11 2 (2.38%) Mellanox
11 2 (2.38%) NVIDIA
12 1 (1.19%) LogicMonitor
12 1 (1.19%) Meraki
12 1 (1.19%) Tufin