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 25 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 281 240 274
Rank change year-on-year -41 +34 +38
Contract jobs citing VLAN 147 108 138
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.71% 0.81% 0.67%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 6.16% 4.81% 3.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 103 71 85
10th Percentile £219 £223 £190
25th Percentile £306 £243 £250
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £413 £413
Median % change year-on-year +12.73% - -2.94%
75th Percentile £550 £579 £560
90th Percentile £601 £625 £650
UK median daily rate £453 £420 £450
% change year-on-year +7.86% -6.67% -4.26%
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 2,385 2,247 3,607
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 11.59% 16.92% 17.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,551 1,322 2,075
10th Percentile £191 £185 £205
25th Percentile £310 £300 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £470 £475
Median % change year-on-year -1.06% -1.05% +1.06%
75th Percentile £569 £575 £588
90th Percentile £655 £649 £675
UK median daily rate £478 £500 £483
% change year-on-year -4.45% +3.63% -6.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 134 108 309
10th Percentile £15.25 £15.41 £14.27
25th Percentile £16.59 £21.00 £21.00
Median hourly rate £41.24 £30.04 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +37.28% -39.92% +163.16%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £74.13 £76.25
UK median hourly rate £34.00 £32.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year +4.62% -27.78% +131.96%

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 25 February 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 25 February 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 25 February 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 -24 57 £481 +48.08% 27
North West -4 45 £500 +11.11% 18
South East -31 42 £456 -19.29% 39
Midlands -53 18 £475 -19.14% 9
West Midlands -49 15 £525 -10.63% 6
Yorkshire -55 12 £363 +49.48% 8
South West -39 10 £400 -3.03% 18
East of England -21 9 £475 +156.76% 17
Scotland +12 6 £298 -25.63% 8
Wales +2 5 £293 - 4
East Midlands -28 3 £275 -56.69% 3
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 (7.48%) Microsoft Exchange
2 9 (6.12%) Skype for Business
3 3 (2.04%) SharePoint
4 2 (1.36%) WordPress
5 1 (0.68%) OpenStack
Applications
1 10 (6.80%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.72%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 46 (31.29%) Azure
2 30 (20.41%) AWS
3 12 (8.16%) Microsoft 365
4 8 (5.44%) Entra ID
5 6 (4.08%) GCP
6 5 (3.40%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 4 (2.72%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 2 (1.36%) AWS Direct Connect
8 2 (1.36%) AWS IoT
8 2 (1.36%) Azure DevOps
8 2 (1.36%) IaaS
8 2 (1.36%) 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%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 94 (63.95%) Firewall
2 53 (36.05%) VPN
3 52 (35.37%) DHCP
3 52 (35.37%) DNS
4 48 (32.65%) LAN
5 47 (31.97%) WAN
6 46 (31.29%) TCP/IP
7 37 (25.17%) Network Security
8 35 (23.81%) BGP
9 31 (21.09%) Wi-Fi
10 25 (17.01%) OSPF
11 23 (15.65%) Wireless
12 19 (12.93%) SD-WAN
13 18 (12.24%) MPLS
14 14 (9.52%) Cisco ASA
15 13 (8.84%) WLAN
16 10 (6.80%) EIGRP
16 10 (6.80%) Software-Defined Networking
16 10 (6.80%) VXLAN
17 9 (6.12%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.68%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 1 (0.68%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 43 (29.25%) Social Skills
2 26 (17.69%) Analytical Skills
3 9 (6.12%) Documentation Skills
3 9 (6.12%) Public Sector
3 9 (6.12%) Telecoms
4 7 (4.76%) Legal
5 4 (2.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 4 (2.72%) Organisational Skills
6 3 (2.04%) Influencing Skills
7 2 (1.36%) Aviation
7 2 (1.36%) Finance
7 2 (1.36%) Manufacturing
8 1 (0.68%) Aerospace
8 1 (0.68%) Law
8 1 (0.68%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 53 (36.05%) Network Engineer
2 25 (17.01%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 17 (11.56%) Support Engineer
4 15 (10.20%) Architect
4 15 (10.20%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
5 13 (8.84%) Analyst
6 12 (8.16%) Infrastructure Support
6 12 (8.16%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
7 11 (7.48%) IT Support
8 9 (6.12%) IT Engineer
8 9 (6.12%) Senior
9 7 (4.76%) Cisco Engineer
9 7 (4.76%) IT Analyst
9 7 (4.76%) Network Architect
9 7 (4.76%) Platform Engineer
9 7 (4.76%) Technical Architect
10 6 (4.08%) IT Support Analyst
10 6 (4.08%) Support Analyst
11 5 (3.40%) Administrator
11 5 (3.40%) Cisco Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (5.44%) 802.1X
2 2 (1.36%) RFC 2544
2 2 (1.36%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 33 (22.45%) Data Centre
2 14 (9.52%) Analytical Mindset
3 9 (6.12%) Product Ownership
4 8 (5.44%) Onboarding
4 8 (5.44%) Operational Technology
5 4 (2.72%) CCTV
5 4 (2.72%) Security Posture
6 3 (2.04%) 3D Printing
6 3 (2.04%) IoT
6 3 (2.04%) SCADA
7 2 (1.36%) Driving Licence
7 2 (1.36%) Fibre Optics
7 2 (1.36%) Hybrid Cloud
7 2 (1.36%) Management Information System
7 2 (1.36%) NHS
8 1 (0.68%) Private Cloud
8 1 (0.68%) Public Cloud
8 1 (0.68%) Security Operations Centre
8 1 (0.68%) Smartphone
8 1 (0.68%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 52 (35.37%) Windows
2 25 (17.01%) Linux
3 18 (12.24%) Windows Server
4 14 (9.52%) Windows 10
5 9 (6.12%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 9 (6.12%) Windows 7
6 2 (1.36%) VMS
7 1 (0.68%) CentOS
7 1 (0.68%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.68%) Windows Server 2012
7 1 (0.68%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 36 (24.49%) Problem-Solving
2 29 (19.73%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 28 (19.05%) Service Management
4 20 (13.61%) Cybersecurity
4 20 (13.61%) Disaster Recovery
4 20 (13.61%) ITIL
4 20 (13.61%) ITSM
5 19 (12.93%) Network Monitoring
6 18 (12.24%) Continuous Improvement
7 17 (11.56%) Network Design
7 17 (11.56%) Virtual Infrastructure
8 15 (10.20%) Network Segmentation
9 12 (8.16%) Change Control
9 12 (8.16%) High Availability
10 11 (7.48%) Incident Response
10 11 (7.48%) Preventative Maintenance
10 11 (7.48%) Project Delivery
11 9 (6.12%) Computer Science
11 9 (6.12%) Disk Encryption
11 9 (6.12%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 25 (17.01%) PowerShell
2 17 (11.56%) Python
3 15 (10.20%) Bash
4 10 (6.80%) VBScript
5 9 (6.12%) VB
6 7 (4.76%) Perl
7 2 (1.36%) SQL
8 1 (0.68%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 71 (48.30%) Security Cleared
2 59 (40.14%) SC Cleared
3 57 (38.78%) Cisco Certification
4 51 (34.69%) CCNP
5 38 (25.85%) CCNA
6 21 (14.29%) Network+ Certification
7 16 (10.88%) Degree
7 16 (10.88%) Microsoft Certification
8 14 (9.52%) Azure Certification
9 12 (8.16%) DV Cleared
9 12 (8.16%) Server+ Certification
10 10 (6.80%) CCIE
11 4 (2.72%) CCDP
11 4 (2.72%) CISSP
11 4 (2.72%) ISTQB
11 4 (2.72%) JNCIS
12 3 (2.04%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 3 (2.04%) CCIE Security
12 3 (2.04%) CCSP
12 3 (2.04%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (4.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 6 (4.08%) SLA
2 5 (3.40%) NIST
2 5 (3.40%) PCI DSS
3 4 (2.72%) GDPR
3 4 (2.72%) NCSC
4 3 (2.04%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (1.36%) QA
6 1 (0.68%) GRC
6 1 (0.68%) GxP
6 1 (0.68%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 36 (24.49%) VMware Infrastructure
2 31 (21.09%) Active Directory
3 16 (10.88%) Hyper-V
4 10 (6.80%) VMware ESXi
5 9 (6.12%) BitLocker
6 8 (5.44%) vSphere
7 5 (3.40%) VMware NSX
8 4 (2.72%) Docker
9 3 (2.04%) KVM
9 3 (2.04%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (1.36%) Firmware
11 1 (0.68%) Ceph
11 1 (0.68%) Citrix Presentation Server
11 1 (0.68%) QEMU
11 1 (0.68%) RHEV
11 1 (0.68%) Xen
Systems Management
1 11 (7.48%) SCCM
2 10 (6.80%) Ansible
3 9 (6.12%) FortiGate
3 9 (6.12%) Nagios
3 9 (6.12%) vCenter Server
4 8 (5.44%) Terraform
5 7 (4.76%) VxRail
6 4 (2.72%) Iperf
6 4 (2.72%) Kubernetes
6 4 (2.72%) Nmap
7 3 (2.04%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (1.36%) Cisco CUCM
8 2 (1.36%) Cisco Prime
8 2 (1.36%) Dell DRAC
9 1 (0.68%) Failover Clustering
9 1 (0.68%) Proxmox
9 1 (0.68%) Red Hat Satellite
9 1 (0.68%) WhatsUp Gold
9 1 (0.68%) WSUS
Vendors
1 72 (48.98%) Cisco
2 50 (34.01%) Microsoft
3 39 (26.53%) VMware
4 32 (21.77%) Palo Alto
5 19 (12.93%) SolarWinds
6 18 (12.24%) Fortinet
7 13 (8.84%) Dell
8 12 (8.16%) Aruba
8 12 (8.16%) CheckPoint
9 11 (7.48%) Juniper
10 10 (6.80%) F5
10 10 (6.80%) ServiceNow
11 8 (5.44%) Red Hat
11 8 (5.44%) Veeam
12 7 (4.76%) Citrix
13 5 (3.40%) Ekahau
13 5 (3.40%) Meraki
14 3 (2.04%) Arista
14 3 (2.04%) HP
14 3 (2.04%) Zscaler