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 28 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 136 68 84
Rank change year-on-year -68 +16 +44
Contract jobs citing VPN 103 101 114
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 1.56% 2.94% 2.21%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 12.86% 16.86% 11.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 71 73 57
10th Percentile £231 £331 £263
25th Percentile £393 £450 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.00% -4.76% +5.00%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £575
90th Percentile £648 £600 £709
England median daily rate £498 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +10.56% -5.26% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 5 9
10th Percentile - £48.06 £17.93
25th Percentile - £71.00 £18.00
Median hourly rate - £89.63 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year - +371.74% -5.52%
75th Percentile - - £22.50
90th Percentile - - £22.53
England median hourly rate £16.56 £50.00 £16.86
% change year-on-year -66.89% +196.56% -19.71%

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 801 599 1,014
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 12.10% 17.43% 19.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 484 405 529
10th Percentile £280 £204 £260
25th Percentile £410 £356 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £495 £500
Median % change year-on-year +6.06% -1.00% +6.84%
75th Percentile £600 £590 £608
90th Percentile £675 £625 £650
England median daily rate £500 £500 £500
Number of hourly rates quoted 80 31 111
10th Percentile £17.61 £14.20 £18.50
25th Percentile £22.50 £24.63 £51.06
Median hourly rate £42.48 £55.00 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year -22.77% -4.10% -0.26%
75th Percentile £56.21 £70.16 £70.00
90th Percentile £63.54 £89.63 £85.25
England median hourly rate £26.72 £45.00 £49.50
% change year-on-year -40.62% -9.09% -

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 28 July 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 28 July 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 -19 66 £450 - 15
Berkshire -21 33 £411 -8.61% 5
Buckinghamshire - 25 £615 - 1
Hampshire -59 20 £550 -4.35% 22
Surrey -21 13 £475 -9.52% 5
Oxfordshire -22 8 £244 -59.38% 9
Middlesex - 2 - - 1
Home Counties - 1 - -
West Sussex - 1 £105 - 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 11 (10.68%) SharePoint
2 3 (2.91%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 4 (3.88%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.94%) Adobe Creative Suite
2 2 (1.94%) Houdini
2 2 (1.94%) NUKE
3 1 (0.97%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.97%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 49 (47.57%) Azure
2 22 (21.36%) Entra ID
3 18 (17.48%) AWS
4 16 (15.53%) Microsoft 365
5 11 (10.68%) OneDrive
6 10 (9.71%) Azure Monitor
7 8 (7.77%) GCP
8 7 (6.80%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 7 (6.80%) Azure Sentinel
9 4 (3.88%) Azure AKS
9 4 (3.88%) Azure DevOps
9 4 (3.88%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 3 (2.91%) AWS CloudFormation
10 3 (2.91%) AWS Direct Connect
10 3 (2.91%) Azure Key Vault
11 2 (1.94%) Google Workspace
11 2 (1.94%) IaaS
11 2 (1.94%) PaaS
11 2 (1.94%) Power Platform
12 1 (0.97%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 66 (64.08%) Firewall
2 48 (46.60%) DNS
3 41 (39.81%) WAN
4 40 (38.83%) LAN
5 33 (32.04%) DHCP
6 31 (30.10%) Network Security
7 28 (27.18%) TCP/IP
8 22 (21.36%) BGP
8 22 (21.36%) SD-WAN
9 21 (20.39%) VLAN
10 18 (17.48%) OSPF
11 17 (16.50%) MPLS
11 17 (16.50%) SSL
12 16 (15.53%) IPsec
13 14 (13.59%) Wi-Fi
14 13 (12.62%) Cisco ASA
15 12 (11.65%) Cisco Firepower
16 10 (9.71%) Wireless
17 8 (7.77%) Cisco Nexus
17 8 (7.77%) NGFW
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.94%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.97%) Power BI
2 1 (0.97%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 4 (3.88%) Sonatype Nexus
2 3 (2.91%) JIRA
3 2 (1.94%) Git
3 2 (1.94%) GitLab
4 1 (0.97%) Browser DevTools
4 1 (0.97%) Jenkins
General
1 39 (37.86%) Social Skills
2 14 (13.59%) Analytical Skills
3 11 (10.68%) Finance
3 11 (10.68%) Telecoms
4 7 (6.80%) Public Sector
5 5 (4.85%) Retail
6 4 (3.88%) Documentation Skills
6 4 (3.88%) Legal
7 3 (2.91%) Influencing Skills
7 3 (2.91%) Military
8 2 (1.94%) Financial Institution
8 2 (1.94%) Organisational Skills
9 1 (0.97%) Aviation
9 1 (0.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 1 (0.97%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.97%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 25 (24.27%) Network Engineer
2 23 (22.33%) Senior
3 21 (20.39%) Architect
4 13 (12.62%) Network Architect
5 12 (11.65%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 12 (11.65%) Senior Network Engineer
6 9 (8.74%) IT Engineer
7 8 (7.77%) Support Engineer
8 7 (6.80%) Azure Engineer
8 7 (6.80%) IT Support
8 7 (6.80%) IT Support Engineer
9 5 (4.85%) Cloud Engineer
9 5 (4.85%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
9 5 (4.85%) Head of Infrastructure
9 5 (4.85%) Platform Engineer
9 5 (4.85%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 5 (4.85%) Security Engineer
9 5 (4.85%) Technical Architect
10 4 (3.88%) Head of IT Infrastructure
10 4 (3.88%) Security Assurance Coordinator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (8.74%) 802.1X
2 6 (5.83%) ARM Templates
3 2 (1.94%) ModSecurity
3 2 (1.94%) Unreal Engine
4 1 (0.97%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (0.97%) SAML
4 1 (0.97%) Software Packaging
4 1 (0.97%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 27 (26.21%) Data Centre
2 17 (16.50%) Hybrid Cloud
3 14 (13.59%) Onboarding
4 8 (7.77%) Public Cloud
5 7 (6.80%) Cloud Native
5 7 (6.80%) PKI
6 6 (5.83%) Management Information System
7 5 (4.85%) Private Cloud
8 4 (3.88%) ARM Cortex
8 4 (3.88%) Fibre Optics
9 3 (2.91%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 3 (2.91%) iPhone
10 2 (1.94%) Blackberry
10 2 (1.94%) Data Protection Act
10 2 (1.94%) Driving Licence
10 2 (1.94%) Enterprise Software
10 2 (1.94%) Motion Graphics
10 2 (1.94%) Replication
10 2 (1.94%) SCADA
10 2 (1.94%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 41 (39.81%) Windows
2 19 (18.45%) Linux
3 14 (13.59%) Windows Server
4 7 (6.80%) Windows 10
5 3 (2.91%) Mac OS
6 2 (1.94%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.97%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.97%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 23 (22.33%) ITIL
2 16 (15.53%) Analytics
2 16 (15.53%) CI/CD
2 16 (15.53%) Network Virtualisation
2 16 (15.53%) Project Delivery
3 15 (14.56%) Cybersecurity
3 15 (14.56%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 14 (13.59%) Infrastructure as Code
4 14 (13.59%) Network Architecture
5 13 (12.62%) DevOps
5 13 (12.62%) High Availability
5 13 (12.62%) Migration
6 12 (11.65%) Change Management
6 12 (11.65%) Technical Leadership
6 12 (11.65%) Zero Trust
7 11 (10.68%) Problem-Solving
7 11 (10.68%) Stakeholder Management
7 11 (10.68%) Validation
8 10 (9.71%) Network Monitoring
8 10 (9.71%) RBAC
Programming Languages
1 16 (15.53%) PowerShell
2 11 (10.68%) Bicep
3 7 (6.80%) Bash
4 6 (5.83%) Python
5 1 (0.97%) SQL
Qualifications
1 57 (55.34%) Security Cleared
2 34 (33.01%) DV Cleared
3 30 (29.13%) SC Cleared
4 16 (15.53%) CCNP
4 16 (15.53%) Cisco Certification
5 10 (9.71%) Microsoft Certification
6 8 (7.77%) Degree
7 4 (3.88%) AWS Certification
7 4 (3.88%) Azure Certification
7 4 (3.88%) CCIE
7 4 (3.88%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 3 (2.91%) PMP
9 2 (1.94%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 2 (1.94%) CCIP
9 2 (1.94%) Network+ Certification
10 1 (0.97%) BC Cleared
10 1 (0.97%) BPSS Clearance
10 1 (0.97%) CCDA
10 1 (0.97%) CCDP
10 1 (0.97%) CCNA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (10.68%) NCSC
2 9 (8.74%) NIST
3 6 (5.83%) JSP 440
4 5 (4.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 4 (3.88%) GDPR
5 4 (3.88%) RMADS
6 2 (1.94%) Cyber Essentials
6 2 (1.94%) NIST 800
6 2 (1.94%) SLA
7 1 (0.97%) QA
System Software
1 34 (33.01%) Active Directory
2 27 (26.21%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (17.48%) VMware NSX
4 6 (5.83%) Hyper-V
4 6 (5.83%) vSphere
5 5 (4.85%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (3.88%) Docker
7 3 (2.91%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (1.94%) Virtual Servers
8 2 (1.94%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.97%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 22 (21.36%) Terraform
2 21 (20.39%) Microsoft Intune
3 15 (14.56%) Ansible
4 9 (8.74%) SCCM
5 7 (6.80%) Kubernetes
6 5 (4.85%) Cisco CUCM
7 4 (3.88%) Grafana
8 3 (2.91%) Prometheus
9 2 (1.94%) Endace
9 2 (1.94%) FortiGate
9 2 (1.94%) Nagios
9 2 (1.94%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.97%) CASB
10 1 (0.97%) Cisco Prime
10 1 (0.97%) Iperf
10 1 (0.97%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.97%) Nmap
10 1 (0.97%) Rancher
Vendors
1 38 (36.89%) Microsoft
2 36 (34.95%) Cisco
3 34 (33.01%) VMware
4 20 (19.42%) Palo Alto
4 20 (19.42%) SolarWinds
5 14 (13.59%) F5
6 12 (11.65%) Juniper
7 11 (10.68%) CheckPoint
8 10 (9.71%) Fortinet
9 8 (7.77%) ServiceNow
10 6 (5.83%) Google
10 6 (5.83%) Veeam
10 6 (5.83%) Zscaler
11 5 (4.85%) Arista
11 5 (4.85%) BT
11 5 (4.85%) CrowdStrike
11 5 (4.85%) Meraki
12 4 (3.88%) Becrypt
12 4 (3.88%) Commvault
12 4 (3.88%) Xerox