VLAN Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Virtual LAN (VLAN)
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring VLAN skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 4 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 285 237 269
Rank change year-on-year -48 +32 +29
Contract jobs citing VLAN 146 104 138
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.69% 0.80% 0.66%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 6.03% 4.69% 3.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 103 68 86
10th Percentile £223 £222 £190
25th Percentile £366 £243 £250
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £474 £413 £426
Median % change year-on-year +14.91% -3.23% -3.73%
75th Percentile £550 £584 £558
90th Percentile £610 £625 £650
UK median daily rate £460 £433 £450
% change year-on-year +6.36% -3.89% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 1 6
10th Percentile - - £48.82
25th Percentile £12.43 £21.25 £66.11
Median hourly rate £12.56 £22.50 £76.53
Median % change year-on-year -44.18% -70.60% +167.35%
75th Percentile £74.26 £23.75 -
90th Percentile - - -
UK median hourly rate £34.00 £30.25 £76.53
% change year-on-year +12.40% -60.47% +135.48%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK excluding London

VLAN 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 UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 2,423 2,216 3,670
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 11.53% 16.95% 17.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,576 1,313 2,127
10th Percentile £200 £185 £205
25th Percentile £313 £300 £335
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £470 £475
Median % change year-on-year -0.32% -1.05% -
75th Percentile £575 £580 £588
90th Percentile £664 £650 £675
UK median daily rate £481 £500 £480
% change year-on-year -3.75% +4.17% -7.69%
Number of hourly rates quoted 135 110 313
10th Percentile £15.25 £15.32 £14.27
25th Percentile £16.93 £21.00 £20.25
Median hourly rate £41.94 £31.79 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +31.93% -33.07% +150.00%
75th Percentile £65.00 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £75.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £34.50 £35.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year -1.43% -12.50% +107.25%

VLAN
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing VLAN relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

VLAN job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

VLAN
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing VLAN.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing VLAN

VLAN
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing VLAN in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 4 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for VLAN in the UK excluding London

VLAN
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing VLAN.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing VLAN

VLAN
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing VLAN in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 4 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for VLAN in the UK excluding London

VLAN
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing VLAN within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 4 March 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
North of England -19 61 £491 +50.96% 25
North West -1 49 £520 +15.56% 15
South East -28 36 £463 -19.57% 44
Midlands -56 19 £425 -27.65% 9
West Midlands -49 16 £475 -19.14% 5
Yorkshire -57 12 £363 +49.48% 9
South West -39 10 £400 -3.03% 14
East of England -24 9 £475 +156.76% 17
Scotland +8 6 £298 -25.63% 5
Wales -1 5 £293 -35.71% 3
East Midlands -31 3 £275 -56.69% 4
North East - 3 £550 - 2
VLAN
UK

VLAN
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 (7.53%) Microsoft Exchange
2 9 (6.16%) Skype for Business
3 3 (2.05%) SharePoint
4 2 (1.37%) WordPress
5 1 (0.68%) OpenStack
Applications
1 10 (6.85%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.74%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 41 (28.08%) Azure
2 25 (17.12%) AWS
3 12 (8.22%) Microsoft 365
4 8 (5.48%) Entra ID
5 6 (4.11%) GCP
5 6 (4.11%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 5 (3.42%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 3 (2.05%) AWS Direct Connect
8 2 (1.37%) AWS IoT
8 2 (1.37%) Azure DevOps
8 2 (1.37%) IaaS
8 2 (1.37%) PaaS
9 1 (0.68%) Akamai
9 1 (0.68%) Azure Sentinel
9 1 (0.68%) Cloud Computing
9 1 (0.68%) Google Ads
9 1 (0.68%) OCI
9 1 (0.68%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 99 (67.81%) Firewall
2 52 (35.62%) VPN
3 50 (34.25%) DHCP
3 50 (34.25%) DNS
4 49 (33.56%) LAN
4 49 (33.56%) WAN
5 41 (28.08%) TCP/IP
6 38 (26.03%) Network Security
7 35 (23.97%) BGP
8 32 (21.92%) Wi-Fi
9 27 (18.49%) Wireless
10 25 (17.12%) OSPF
11 20 (13.70%) SD-WAN
12 17 (11.64%) MPLS
13 13 (8.90%) Cisco ASA
13 13 (8.90%) WLAN
14 11 (7.53%) EIGRP
14 11 (7.53%) VXLAN
15 10 (6.85%) Software-Defined Networking
16 9 (6.16%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.68%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 2 (1.37%) Sonatype Nexus
2 1 (0.68%) Git
General
1 45 (30.82%) Social Skills
2 20 (13.70%) Analytical Skills
3 10 (6.85%) Documentation Skills
4 8 (5.48%) Public Sector
4 8 (5.48%) Telecoms
5 7 (4.79%) Legal
6 4 (2.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 4 (2.74%) Organisational Skills
7 3 (2.05%) Influencing Skills
8 2 (1.37%) Aviation
8 2 (1.37%) Finance
8 2 (1.37%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.68%) Aerospace
9 1 (0.68%) Law
9 1 (0.68%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 56 (38.36%) Network Engineer
2 20 (13.70%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 18 (12.33%) Architect
3 18 (12.33%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
4 13 (8.90%) Analyst
5 11 (7.53%) IT Support
5 11 (7.53%) Support Engineer
6 10 (6.85%) Network Architect
6 10 (6.85%) Senior
7 9 (6.16%) IT Engineer
8 7 (4.79%) Cisco Engineer
8 7 (4.79%) IT Analyst
8 7 (4.79%) Platform Engineer
8 7 (4.79%) Technical Architect
9 6 (4.11%) Infrastructure Support
9 6 (4.11%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
9 6 (4.11%) IT Support Analyst
9 6 (4.11%) Support Analyst
10 5 (3.42%) Administrator
10 5 (3.42%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (6.16%) 802.1X
2 2 (1.37%) RFC 2544
2 2 (1.37%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 37 (25.34%) Data Centre
2 9 (6.16%) Onboarding
2 9 (6.16%) Product Ownership
3 8 (5.48%) Analytical Mindset
3 8 (5.48%) Operational Technology
4 4 (2.74%) CCTV
4 4 (2.74%) Security Posture
5 3 (2.05%) 3D Printing
5 3 (2.05%) Hybrid Cloud
5 3 (2.05%) IoT
5 3 (2.05%) SCADA
6 2 (1.37%) Driving Licence
6 2 (1.37%) Fibre Optics
6 2 (1.37%) Management Information System
6 2 (1.37%) NHS
7 1 (0.68%) Enterprise Cloud
7 1 (0.68%) Public Cloud
7 1 (0.68%) Security Operations Centre
7 1 (0.68%) Smartphone
7 1 (0.68%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 47 (32.19%) Windows
2 19 (13.01%) Linux
2 19 (13.01%) Windows Server
3 14 (9.59%) Windows 10
4 9 (6.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 9 (6.16%) Windows 7
5 2 (1.37%) VMS
6 1 (0.68%) CentOS
6 1 (0.68%) Ubuntu
6 1 (0.68%) Windows Server 2012
6 1 (0.68%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (20.55%) Problem-Solving
2 24 (16.44%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 23 (15.75%) ITSM
4 22 (15.07%) Service Management
5 20 (13.70%) Cybersecurity
6 19 (13.01%) Continuous Improvement
6 19 (13.01%) Network Monitoring
7 18 (12.33%) Network Design
8 17 (11.64%) Network Segmentation
9 15 (10.27%) ITIL
10 14 (9.59%) Disaster Recovery
11 13 (8.90%) High Availability
12 12 (8.22%) Change Control
12 12 (8.22%) Project Delivery
13 11 (7.53%) Incident Response
13 11 (7.53%) Virtual Infrastructure
14 10 (6.85%) Root Cause Analysis
15 9 (6.16%) Computer Science
15 9 (6.16%) Disk Encryption
16 8 (5.48%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 25 (17.12%) PowerShell
2 17 (11.64%) Python
3 14 (9.59%) Bash
4 10 (6.85%) VBScript
5 9 (6.16%) VB
6 7 (4.79%) Perl
7 2 (1.37%) SQL
8 1 (0.68%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 70 (47.95%) Security Cleared
2 60 (41.10%) Cisco Certification
3 59 (40.41%) SC Cleared
4 54 (36.99%) CCNP
5 42 (28.77%) CCNA
6 18 (12.33%) Network+ Certification
7 16 (10.96%) Degree
8 12 (8.22%) DV Cleared
9 10 (6.85%) Microsoft Certification
10 9 (6.16%) CCIE
10 9 (6.16%) Server+ Certification
11 8 (5.48%) Azure Certification
12 4 (2.74%) CCDP
12 4 (2.74%) CISSP
12 4 (2.74%) ISTQB
12 4 (2.74%) JNCIS
13 3 (2.05%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 3 (2.05%) CCIE Security
13 3 (2.05%) CCSP
13 3 (2.05%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (4.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 6 (4.11%) SLA
2 5 (3.42%) NIST
2 5 (3.42%) PCI DSS
3 4 (2.74%) GDPR
3 4 (2.74%) NCSC
4 3 (2.05%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (1.37%) QA
6 1 (0.68%) GRC
6 1 (0.68%) GxP
6 1 (0.68%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 32 (21.92%) Active Directory
2 31 (21.23%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (6.85%) Hyper-V
3 10 (6.85%) VMware ESXi
4 9 (6.16%) BitLocker
5 8 (5.48%) vSphere
6 5 (3.42%) VMware NSX
7 4 (2.74%) Docker
8 3 (2.05%) Firmware
8 3 (2.05%) KVM
8 3 (2.05%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.68%) Ceph
9 1 (0.68%) Citrix Presentation Server
9 1 (0.68%) QEMU
9 1 (0.68%) RHEV
9 1 (0.68%) Xen
Systems Management
1 11 (7.53%) SCCM
2 10 (6.85%) Ansible
3 9 (6.16%) FortiGate
3 9 (6.16%) Nagios
3 9 (6.16%) Terraform
3 9 (6.16%) vCenter Server
4 7 (4.79%) VxRail
5 4 (2.74%) Kubernetes
6 3 (2.05%) Iperf
6 3 (2.05%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (2.05%) Nmap
7 2 (1.37%) Cisco CUCM
7 2 (1.37%) Cisco Prime
7 2 (1.37%) Dell DRAC
8 1 (0.68%) Failover Clustering
8 1 (0.68%) Grafana
8 1 (0.68%) Proxmox
8 1 (0.68%) Red Hat Satellite
8 1 (0.68%) WhatsUp Gold
8 1 (0.68%) WSUS
Vendors
1 75 (51.37%) Cisco
2 45 (30.82%) Microsoft
3 34 (23.29%) VMware
4 32 (21.92%) Palo Alto
5 19 (13.01%) SolarWinds
6 18 (12.33%) Fortinet
7 13 (8.90%) Aruba
7 13 (8.90%) Dell
7 13 (8.90%) ServiceNow
8 12 (8.22%) CheckPoint
9 11 (7.53%) Juniper
10 10 (6.85%) F5
11 8 (5.48%) Red Hat
11 8 (5.48%) Veeam
12 7 (4.79%) Citrix
13 6 (4.11%) Ekahau
13 6 (4.11%) Meraki
14 3 (2.05%) Arista
14 3 (2.05%) HP
14 3 (2.05%) Zscaler