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 26 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 106 80 104
Rank change year-on-year -26 +24 -1
Contract jobs citing VPN 82 98 102
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 1.84% 2.67% 2.03%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 13.02% 14.58% 8.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 52 57 52
10th Percentile £207 £221 £162
25th Percentile £400 £413 £202
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £448
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +17.32% -14.76%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £550
90th Percentile £673 £638 £637
England median daily rate £450 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -5.26% - +11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 1 3
10th Percentile £39.50 - £21.05
25th Percentile £71.00 £18.50 £22.25
Median hourly rate £89.63 £19.00 £24.50
Median % change year-on-year +371.74% -22.45% +8.89%
75th Percentile - £19.50 £24.88
90th Percentile - - £24.95
England median hourly rate £25.31 £19.00 £20.50
% change year-on-year +33.21% -7.32% +0.17%

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 630 672 1,150
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 14.17% 18.33% 22.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 464 384 629
10th Percentile £204 £237 £200
25th Percentile £348 £400 £280
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% +11.11% -6.48%
75th Percentile £575 £592 £563
90th Percentile £641 £643 £650
England median daily rate £488 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -2.50% - -1.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 21 70
10th Percentile £18.23 £31.25 £23.54
25th Percentile £24.94 £35.00 £30.00
Median hourly rate £71.08 £60.50 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +17.49% +0.83% +33.33%
75th Percentile £88.72 £63.75 £71.90
90th Percentile £90.87 £70.00 £76.68
England median hourly rate £34.00 £35.00 £56.49
% change year-on-year -2.86% -38.04% +29.27%

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 26 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 26 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 26 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
Thames Valley -31 36 £430 -21.82% 36
Hampshire -2 31 £600 +11.63% 23
Berkshire -22 20 £438 -12.50% 25
Oxfordshire -2 11 £525 -16.00% 9
Surrey -24 6 £400 -21.95% 11
Kent +4 5 £155 - 10
Buckinghamshire -6 5 £274 -50.27% 2
West Sussex -15 3 £400 +110.53% 5
M4 Corridor - 1 £375 -
East Sussex - 1 - - 2
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 12 (14.63%) SharePoint
2 7 (8.54%) Exchange Server 2003
2 7 (8.54%) Exchange Server 2007
2 7 (8.54%) Exchange Server 2010
2 7 (8.54%) Exchange Server 2013
2 7 (8.54%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (8.54%) Office Communications Server
2 7 (8.54%) SharePoint Server
2 7 (8.54%) Skype for Business
3 1 (1.22%) IIS
3 1 (1.22%) Tomcat
Applications
1 16 (19.51%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (3.66%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (1.22%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 18 (21.95%) Azure
2 14 (17.07%) AWS
2 14 (17.07%) Microsoft 365
3 6 (7.32%) Entra ID
4 5 (6.10%) GCP
5 2 (2.44%) Azure ExpressRoute
5 2 (2.44%) Azure Sentinel
6 1 (1.22%) Nutanix
6 1 (1.22%) SaaS
6 1 (1.22%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 42 (51.22%) Firewall
2 29 (35.37%) DNS
3 26 (31.71%) BGP
4 25 (30.49%) WAN
5 23 (28.05%) LAN
5 23 (28.05%) TCP/IP
6 22 (26.83%) OSPF
7 18 (21.95%) Network Security
8 17 (20.73%) MPLS
9 15 (18.29%) DHCP
10 13 (15.85%) VLAN
11 10 (12.20%) SD-WAN
12 8 (9.76%) IPsec
13 7 (8.54%) DDNS
13 7 (8.54%) Junos
13 7 (8.54%) SAN
13 7 (8.54%) Wireless
14 6 (7.32%) IPv6
15 5 (6.10%) Remote Desktop
16 4 (4.88%) Cisco IOS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.22%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 6 (7.32%) JIRA
2 2 (2.44%) GitLab
3 1 (1.22%) Jenkins
General
1 27 (32.93%) Social Skills
2 11 (13.41%) Analytical Skills
3 9 (10.98%) Telecoms
4 8 (9.76%) Public Sector
5 7 (8.54%) Legal
6 6 (7.32%) Documentation Skills
6 6 (7.32%) Finance
7 4 (4.88%) Law
7 4 (4.88%) Organisational Skills
8 3 (3.66%) Electronics
8 3 (3.66%) Manufacturing
8 3 (3.66%) Marketing
8 3 (3.66%) Retail
9 2 (2.44%) Advertising
9 2 (2.44%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 24 (29.27%) Network Engineer
2 14 (17.07%) Architect
3 10 (12.20%) Support Engineer
4 9 (10.98%) Senior
5 8 (9.76%) Lead
6 7 (8.54%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
6 7 (8.54%) Exchange Engineer
6 7 (8.54%) Exchange Support
7 6 (7.32%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 5 (6.10%) Design Engineer
8 5 (6.10%) IT Support
8 5 (6.10%) Network Architect
9 4 (4.88%) Analyst
9 4 (4.88%) Help Desk Support
9 4 (4.88%) Infrastructure Architect
9 4 (4.88%) IP Engineer
9 4 (4.88%) Network Design Engineer
9 4 (4.88%) Service Desk Officer
9 4 (4.88%) Service Desk Support
9 4 (4.88%) Support Officer
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 7 (8.54%) Replication
3 6 (7.32%) Cloud Native
4 4 (4.88%) NHS
5 3 (3.66%) Algorithms
5 3 (3.66%) Hybrid Cloud
5 3 (3.66%) Onboarding
5 3 (3.66%) PKI
5 3 (3.66%) Public Cloud
5 3 (3.66%) SCADA
5 3 (3.66%) Smartcard
5 3 (3.66%) Video Conferencing
5 3 (3.66%) Virtual Team
6 2 (2.44%) Linux Command Line
7 1 (1.22%) Driving Licence
7 1 (1.22%) Enterprise Cloud
7 1 (1.22%) Life Science
7 1 (1.22%) Management Information System
7 1 (1.22%) TM Forum
Operating Systems
1 23 (28.05%) Windows
2 10 (12.20%) Windows 10
3 7 (8.54%) Mac OS
3 7 (8.54%) Windows Server 2003
4 6 (7.32%) Windows Server
5 4 (4.88%) Windows Server 2012
5 4 (4.88%) Windows Server 2016
6 2 (2.44%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 27 (32.93%) ITIL
2 18 (21.95%) Problem-Solving
3 17 (20.73%) High Availability
4 13 (15.85%) ITSM
5 10 (12.20%) Business Intelligence
5 10 (12.20%) Cybersecurity
6 9 (10.98%) Architectural Design
6 9 (10.98%) Network Design
7 8 (9.76%) Customer Service
7 8 (9.76%) Knowledge Transfer
7 8 (9.76%) Migration
8 7 (8.54%) Content Management
8 7 (8.54%) Continuous Improvement
8 7 (8.54%) Enterprise Content Management
8 7 (8.54%) Enterprise Search
8 7 (8.54%) Network Monitoring
8 7 (8.54%) Network Segmentation
8 7 (8.54%) Test Automation
9 6 (7.32%) Computer Science
9 6 (7.32%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 7 (8.54%) Python
2 4 (4.88%) Bash
3 3 (3.66%) PowerShell
4 1 (1.22%) Java
Qualifications
1 41 (50.00%) Security Cleared
2 23 (28.05%) Cisco Certification
3 22 (26.83%) DV Cleared
4 20 (24.39%) CCNP
5 16 (19.51%) SC Cleared
6 10 (12.20%) CCNA
6 10 (12.20%) JNCIS
7 6 (7.32%) Degree
7 6 (7.32%) Network+ Certification
8 5 (6.10%) A+ Certification
9 4 (4.88%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 4 (4.88%) JNCIA
9 4 (4.88%) JNCIP
9 4 (4.88%) Microsoft Certification
10 3 (3.66%) BPSS Clearance
10 3 (3.66%) CCIE
10 3 (3.66%) CISM
10 3 (3.66%) CISSP
10 3 (3.66%) GIAC
11 1 (1.22%) CCDP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (9.76%) GDPR
2 6 (7.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (4.88%) NIST
4 3 (3.66%) SLA
5 2 (2.44%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (2.44%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
System Software
1 21 (25.61%) Active Directory
2 8 (9.76%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (8.54%) Brightmail
3 7 (8.54%) Hyper-V
3 7 (8.54%) ISA Server
4 4 (4.88%) Terminal Services
5 3 (3.66%) VMware NSX
6 2 (2.44%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (1.22%) Docker
7 1 (1.22%) KVM
7 1 (1.22%) RHEV
7 1 (1.22%) Xen
Systems Management
1 10 (12.20%) Ansible
2 7 (8.54%) Microsoft Clustering
3 6 (7.32%) Nagios
4 5 (6.10%) FortiGate
5 4 (4.88%) Single Sign-On
5 4 (4.88%) Terraform
6 3 (3.66%) Iperf
6 3 (3.66%) Nmap
6 3 (3.66%) SCCM
7 2 (2.44%) Endace
7 2 (2.44%) Microsoft Intune
7 2 (2.44%) vCenter Server
8 1 (1.22%) Kubernetes
8 1 (1.22%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 38 (46.34%) Cisco
2 26 (31.71%) Microsoft
3 20 (24.39%) Juniper
4 18 (21.95%) Palo Alto
5 12 (14.63%) VMware
6 11 (13.41%) Fortinet
7 9 (10.98%) SolarWinds
8 8 (9.76%) CheckPoint
9 6 (7.32%) ServiceNow
10 5 (6.10%) Zscaler
11 4 (4.88%) Citrix
11 4 (4.88%) F5
11 4 (4.88%) SAP
12 3 (3.66%) McAfee
12 3 (3.66%) Nokia
12 3 (3.66%) Thales
13 2 (2.44%) Mellanox
13 2 (2.44%) NVIDIA
13 2 (2.44%) Sophos
14 1 (1.22%) Ariba