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

6 months to
20 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 105 81 93
Rank change year-on-year -24 +12 +18
Contract jobs citing VPN 82 83 111
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 1.86% 2.55% 2.17%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 13.42% 14.41% 9.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 51 43 55
10th Percentile £273 £220 £169
25th Percentile £400 £300 £203
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £445
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +17.98% -12.75%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £544
90th Percentile £675 £636 £630
England median daily rate £450 £475 £450
% change year-on-year -5.26% +5.56% +3.45%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 1 3
10th Percentile - - £21.05
25th Percentile £18.50 £18.50 £22.25
Median hourly rate £19.00 £19.00 £24.50
Median % change year-on-year - -22.45% +8.89%
75th Percentile £19.50 £19.50 £24.88
90th Percentile - - £24.95
England median hourly rate £20.63 £27.00 £22.00
% change year-on-year -23.58% +22.73% +5.11%

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 611 576 1,215
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 13.86% 17.71% 23.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 450 310 648
10th Percentile £212 £237 £200
25th Percentile £350 £400 £280
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +11.11% -10.00%
75th Percentile £569 £600 £553
90th Percentile £650 £651 £650
England median daily rate £488 £500 £493
% change year-on-year -2.50% +1.42% -5.19%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 20 82
10th Percentile £17.87 £31.25 £22.84
25th Percentile £23.25 £35.00 £30.00
Median hourly rate £56.40 £59.13 £62.00
Median % change year-on-year -4.61% -4.64% +37.78%
75th Percentile £72.29 £62.81 £71.42
90th Percentile £84.20 £67.44 £78.00
England median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £56.49
% change year-on-year -14.29% -38.04% +147.60%

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 20 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 20 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 34 £411 -27.21% 24
Hampshire -5 32 £575 +9.52% 18
Berkshire -21 24 £438 +7.69% 21
Surrey -17 9 £400 -21.95% 6
Buckinghamshire -16 5 £274 -51.59% 1
Oxfordshire - 5 £325 - 2
West Sussex -17 3 £400 +110.53% 3
Kent - 3 £180 - 12
East Sussex - 1 - -
M4 Corridor - 1 £375 -
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 8 (9.76%) SharePoint
2 5 (6.10%) Exchange Server 2003
2 5 (6.10%) Exchange Server 2007
2 5 (6.10%) Exchange Server 2010
2 5 (6.10%) Exchange Server 2013
2 5 (6.10%) Microsoft Exchange
2 5 (6.10%) Office Communications Server
2 5 (6.10%) SharePoint Server
2 5 (6.10%) Skype for Business
3 1 (1.22%) IIS
3 1 (1.22%) Tomcat
Applications
1 12 (14.63%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (4.88%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (1.22%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 23 (28.05%) Azure
2 20 (24.39%) AWS
3 10 (12.20%) GCP
3 10 (12.20%) Microsoft 365
4 5 (6.10%) Entra ID
5 2 (2.44%) Nutanix
6 1 (1.22%) SaaS
6 1 (1.22%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 35 (42.68%) Firewall
2 30 (36.59%) WAN
3 28 (34.15%) LAN
4 25 (30.49%) DNS
5 24 (29.27%) BGP
6 20 (24.39%) OSPF
7 17 (20.73%) MPLS
7 17 (20.73%) Network Security
8 15 (18.29%) TCP/IP
9 14 (17.07%) SD-WAN
10 12 (14.63%) VLAN
11 9 (10.98%) DHCP
12 7 (8.54%) IPv6
12 7 (8.54%) Junos
13 6 (7.32%) IPsec
14 5 (6.10%) DDNS
14 5 (6.10%) SAN
15 4 (4.88%) Intrusion Detection
15 4 (4.88%) IPv4
15 4 (4.88%) S/MIME
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.22%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 2 (2.44%) GitLab
1 2 (2.44%) JIRA
2 1 (1.22%) Jenkins
General
1 23 (28.05%) Social Skills
2 9 (10.98%) Telecoms
3 8 (9.76%) Public Sector
4 6 (7.32%) Documentation Skills
4 6 (7.32%) Finance
5 5 (6.10%) Analytical Skills
6 3 (3.66%) Electronics
6 3 (3.66%) Legal
6 3 (3.66%) Manufacturing
6 3 (3.66%) Marketing
6 3 (3.66%) Retail
7 1 (1.22%) Law
Job Titles
1 22 (26.83%) Network Engineer
2 19 (23.17%) Architect
3 12 (14.63%) Lead
4 11 (13.41%) Senior
5 8 (9.76%) Infrastructure Architect
6 7 (8.54%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
7 6 (7.32%) Network Architect
7 6 (7.32%) Support Engineer
8 5 (6.10%) Design Engineer
8 5 (6.10%) Exchange Engineer
8 5 (6.10%) Exchange Support
9 4 (4.88%) Analyst
9 4 (4.88%) IP Engineer
9 4 (4.88%) Network Design Engineer
9 4 (4.88%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 4 (4.88%) Senior Architect
10 3 (3.66%) Desktop Support
10 3 (3.66%) Senior Network Architect
10 3 (3.66%) Senior Network Designer
10 3 (3.66%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (1.22%) 802.1X
1 1 (1.22%) JSON
1 1 (1.22%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 13 (15.85%) Data Centre
2 11 (13.41%) Cloud Native
3 8 (9.76%) Public Cloud
4 5 (6.10%) Replication
5 4 (4.88%) Algorithms
5 4 (4.88%) NHS
5 4 (4.88%) PKI
5 4 (4.88%) Smartcard
6 3 (3.66%) Hybrid Cloud
6 3 (3.66%) Onboarding
6 3 (3.66%) SCADA
6 3 (3.66%) Video Conferencing
6 3 (3.66%) Virtual Team
7 2 (2.44%) Linux Command Line
8 1 (1.22%) Driving Licence
8 1 (1.22%) Enterprise Cloud
8 1 (1.22%) Life Science
8 1 (1.22%) Management Information System
8 1 (1.22%) TM Forum
Operating Systems
1 14 (17.07%) Windows
2 7 (8.54%) Windows 10
3 5 (6.10%) Windows Server 2003
4 3 (3.66%) Mac OS
4 3 (3.66%) Windows Server
5 2 (2.44%) Linux
6 1 (1.22%) Windows Server 2012
6 1 (1.22%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 22 (26.83%) ITIL
2 14 (17.07%) High Availability
3 13 (15.85%) ITSM
4 10 (12.20%) Cybersecurity
4 10 (12.20%) Network Design
5 9 (10.98%) Problem-Solving
6 8 (9.76%) Business Intelligence
6 8 (9.76%) Continuous Improvement
6 8 (9.76%) Customer Service
6 8 (9.76%) Test Automation
7 7 (8.54%) Architectural Design
7 7 (8.54%) Knowledge Transfer
7 7 (8.54%) Network Monitoring
7 7 (8.54%) Network Segmentation
8 6 (7.32%) DevOps
8 6 (7.32%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 6 (7.32%) Zero Trust
9 5 (6.10%) Content Management
9 5 (6.10%) Enterprise Content Management
9 5 (6.10%) Network Optimisation
Programming Languages
1 7 (8.54%) Python
2 4 (4.88%) Bash
3 1 (1.22%) Java
3 1 (1.22%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 38 (46.34%) Security Cleared
2 23 (28.05%) DV Cleared
3 22 (26.83%) Cisco Certification
4 21 (25.61%) CCNP
5 12 (14.63%) SC Cleared
6 11 (13.41%) CCNA
6 11 (13.41%) JNCIS
7 6 (7.32%) Network+ Certification
8 4 (4.88%) CISM
8 4 (4.88%) CISSP
8 4 (4.88%) GIAC
8 4 (4.88%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 4 (4.88%) JNCIA
8 4 (4.88%) JNCIP
9 3 (3.66%) BPSS Clearance
9 3 (3.66%) CCIE
10 2 (2.44%) Degree
11 1 (1.22%) A+ Certification
11 1 (1.22%) CCDP
11 1 (1.22%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (6.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 5 (6.10%) NIST
2 3 (3.66%) SLA
3 1 (1.22%) GDPR
System Software
1 15 (18.29%) Active Directory
2 10 (12.20%) VMware Infrastructure
3 9 (10.98%) Hyper-V
4 5 (6.10%) Brightmail
4 5 (6.10%) ISA Server
5 3 (3.66%) VMware NSX
6 1 (1.22%) Docker
6 1 (1.22%) KVM
6 1 (1.22%) RHEV
6 1 (1.22%) Terminal Services
6 1 (1.22%) Xen
Systems Management
1 10 (12.20%) Ansible
2 7 (8.54%) Nagios
3 5 (6.10%) Microsoft Clustering
3 5 (6.10%) Single Sign-On
4 4 (4.88%) Terraform
5 3 (3.66%) Endace
5 3 (3.66%) FortiGate
5 3 (3.66%) Iperf
5 3 (3.66%) Nmap
5 3 (3.66%) SCCM
6 1 (1.22%) Kubernetes
6 1 (1.22%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 34 (41.46%) Cisco
2 22 (26.83%) Juniper
3 17 (20.73%) Microsoft
4 14 (17.07%) Palo Alto
4 14 (17.07%) VMware
5 10 (12.20%) SolarWinds
6 9 (10.98%) Fortinet
7 5 (6.10%) F5
7 5 (6.10%) Zscaler
8 4 (4.88%) CheckPoint
8 4 (4.88%) SAP
8 4 (4.88%) Thales
9 3 (3.66%) McAfee
9 3 (3.66%) Nokia
10 2 (2.44%) Mellanox
10 2 (2.44%) NVIDIA
10 2 (2.44%) ServiceNow
11 1 (1.22%) LogicMonitor
11 1 (1.22%) Meraki
11 1 (1.22%) Qualys